mind-numbing
Britishadjective
Other Word Forms
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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"If we were to say how exhausting and mind-numbing it can be, then mothers might quit and then society would collapse. So, there is this tendency to walk on eggshells around these issues."
From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026
After thousands of employees were reassigned to Meta's AI division, some, speaking anonymously to US media, have complained of "mind-numbing" tasks designed to train machines, or even automate away their own jobs.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
While these types of exhibitions are often an exercise in hunting for an aesthetic needle in a mind-numbing haystack, the quality here is surprisingly consistent with happy discoveries around almost every corner.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 27, 2026
The campaign for changes to the building code, the rules that specify in mind-numbing detail exactly how buildings must be constructed, appears to be the next chapter of this fight.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 23, 2025
On Monday morning, July 15, he awoke facing the prospect of yet another day of mind-numbing routine, but when he arrived at headquarters, he found Detective Cuddy in an unusually good mood.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
