tiresome
Americanadjective
-
causing or liable to cause a person to tire; wearisome.
a tiresome job.
-
annoying or vexatious.
- Antonyms:
- interesting
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of tiresome
Explanation
Something that's tiresome is extremely dull or annoying, like the tiresome lecture your whole class gets every time some forgets to turn in their homework. Your little sister might love her enormous picture book about trucks, while you find it tiresome (especially when you're reading it to her for the tenth time). It's entirely possible that she finds some of your favorite things—like French movies, baking pies, or jazz—equally tiresome. This synonym for tedious first appeared around 1500, from the verb tire, or "become weary."
Vocabulary lists containing tiresome
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
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Nothing But the Truth
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This Is Not a Drill: Synonyms for "Boring"
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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.
What’s tiresome is that in learning about them we have to sit through a one-sided lecture of the usual dreary sort.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
It is curious that Mr. Nichols never mentions Melville’s 1857 novel, “The Confidence-Man,” with its pointed parodies of Emerson as the chilly philosopher Mark Winsome, and of Thoreau as Egbert, a tiresome pseudomoralist.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
The only thing people like Andrew Tate and Ben Shapiro grow is more tiresome.
From Salon ● May 8, 2026
"It hasn't even been a week since we experienced a similar situation. It is getting tiresome," Oliva said as she returned home after giving up on plans to visit her daughter.
From Barron's ● Mar. 21, 2026
“Say, children,” said Simon, after the “moon, moon, moon” chant began to grow tiresome.
From "The Hidden Gallery" by Maryrose Wood
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.
