wearisome

American  

[weer-ee-suhm] / ˈwɪər i səm /

adjective

1. causing weariness; fatiguing.

   a difficult and wearisome march.

2. tiresome or tedious.

   a wearisome person; a wearisome book.

   Synonyms:

   prosaic, prosy, dull, humdrum, monotonous, boring

   Antonyms:

   interesting

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wearisome British  

/ ˈwɪərɪsəm /

adjective

1. causing fatigue or annoyance; tedious

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• wearisomely
  adverb
• unwearisome
  adjective
• wearisomeness
  noun

Etymology

Origin of wearisome

First recorded in 1400–50, wearisome is from the late Middle English word werysom. See weary, -some ¹

Explanation

Anything that's boring, tedious, or so dull that it puts you to sleep can be described as wearisome. Long bus rides and long classroom lectures can both be wearisome. The adjective wearisome is good for describing things that seem to last forever, that require repetition, or that are otherwise both boring and mentally exhausting. Always being told "Be careful!" by your parents can be wearisome, and typing data into a computer all day is also wearisome. The original, fifteenth century meaning of wearisome was "weary" or "tired," but it quickly came to mean "making one weary," from the Old English root werig, "tired."

Example Sentences

But any visitor who has circled the White House on foot knows that it’s a decidedly wearisome experience, punctuated by the detritus of security barriers and by efforts to keep the public at bay.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 10, 2026

"Alas, it was also, as this wearisome musical prequel cruelly demonstrates, a mistake."

From BBC • Dec. 5, 2023

This year’s team will be anything but wearisome, and watching them will be anything but drudgery, and doesn’t that already feel like a cool October breeze cutting through stale summer air?

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 27, 2023

That gift grows more wearisome in the book’s final sections, as Markley balances ever-more-intense portraits of devastation with ever more pages of Ashir’s policy wonkery and scenes of boardroom debates.

From Washington Post • Jan. 6, 2023

When his heart spoke to him, it was to provide a stimulus to the boy, and to give him strength, because the days of silence there in the desert were wearisome.

From "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho