mind-numbing

British  

adjective

1. extremely boring and uninspiring

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Other Word Forms

• mind-numbingly adverb

Explanation

When something is especially dull, it makes us feel like our brains have stopped working — it's mind-numbing. If you've had to listen to a lo-o-o-ong, bo-o-o-oring lecture, you already understand what mind-numbing means. Mind-numbing describes something that is so boring and uninteresting that it turns your brain into useless mush. The word was first recorded in 1898, but of course, people were experiencing boring work and dull teachers for a very long time before that. Even the Ancient Greeks must have been bored every now and then — but, unlike you, they didn't have this word to describe just how bored they were.

Example Sentences

After the Patriots’ first touchdown, there was “absolutely mind-numbing volatility,” Kane said.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 9, 2026

Freddie Freeman slammed a walk-off homer to lead off the bottom of the 18th, putting the finishing touch on one of the weirdest, wackiest, most mind-numbing contests ever staged in the Fall Classic.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 28, 2025

Nearly all of this summer’s controversies have been mind-numbing in many ways, perhaps none more so than the reactions to American Eagle’s “good jeans” ad featuring Sydney Sweeney.

From Salon • Aug. 6, 2025

It has also had mixed reviews, being described as "jovial, zany, and sweet" by the Daily Beast, but a "mind-numbing abomination" by the Times.

From BBC • May 25, 2025

The overdramatic music that accompanies the show sounds like the mind-numbing background tracks of the Urdu dramas that my parents watch at home, so I’m glad to leave.

From "Amina's Voice" by Hena Khan