Language tip of the week: boring

In this weekly post, we bring more useful content from the Macmillan Dictionary to English language learners. In this series of language tips to accompany the Real Vocabulary theme we look at how you can expand your vocabulary in English by using different words and expressions instead of core vocabulary items.

This set of language tips will explore different ways to talk about emotions. This week’s tip looks at adjectives you can use for describing things or people that make you feel bored:

boring not at all interesting and making you feel impatient or dissatisfied:
the most boring town in Britain ♦ It gets boring being at home all day. ♦ Our maths teacher is so boring.
dull not interesting, exciting or unusual in any way:
Life in a village can be very dull. ♦ a dull lecture ♦ I found him deadly dull.
tedious boring and continuing for a long time:
tedious meetings with clients ♦ It’s a long and tedious process.
monotonous something that is monotonous is boring because it is always the same:
a monotonous diet of rice and vegetables ♦ The work gets a bit monotonous after a while. ♦ They lost every game they played, with monotonous regularity.

Monotonous is used about sounds or tunes that are boring or unpleasant because they are always the same:

She could hear his monotonous voice going on and on.

dreary something that is dreary makes you feel bored and unhappy, especially because it is not new or interesting in any way:
another dreary day in school ♦ I’ve never read anything so dreary.

Dreary is often used to talk about weather, or about places that are dark and depressing:

I was shown into a dreary waiting room. ♦ It was another dreary Novermber day.

tired something that is tired is boring because it has been seen or done many times before:
The film was the same tired old rubbish. ♦ tired political slogans

Did you know that Macmillan Dictionary includes a full thesaurus? This page lists more ways to say ‘boring‘.