tiresome

adjective

tire·​some ˈtī(-ə)r-səm 

: wearisome, tedious

a tiresome lecture

tiresomely adverb

tiresomeness noun

Synonyms

• arid
• boring
• colorless
• drab
• dreary
• drudging
• dry
• dull
• dusty
• flat
• heavy
• ho-hum
• humdrum
• jading
• jejune
• leaden
• mind-numbing
• monochromatic
• monotonous
• numbing
• old
• pedestrian
• ponderous
• slow
• stale
• stodgy
• stuffy
• stupid
• tame
• tedious
• tiring
• uninteresting
• wearisome
• weary
• wearying

Examples of tiresome in a Sentence

All those stories about his childhood can become tiresome after a while.

what a tiresome church service that turned out to be

Recent Examples on the Web

Jay Baruchel, so affecting in 2023’s BlackBerry, is less successful, his withering nasal drone growing tiresome across the film’s 110-minute runtime. —Staff Author, EW.com, 22 Mar. 2025

The tiresome, overconfident Musk finished second (29.3 percent), while an endless, if barely audible, drumbeat for Meghan Markle’s new lifestyle series was enough to earn the duchess third place (12.7 percent). —airmail.news, 8 Mar. 2025

At times, Plunkett’s painstaking efforts to track each poem’s influences can be tiresome. —Maggie Doherty, The New Yorker, 24 Feb. 2025

The giants, led by Goliath, are neat to behold, but Saul’s hallucinations quickly grow tiresome, the least interesting way to show a secure monarch succumbing to paranoia. —Alison Herman, Variety, 27 Feb. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1520, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

tiresome

adjective

tire·​some ˈtī(ə)r-səm 

: likely to tire one because of length or dullness : boring

a tiresome lecture

tiresomely adverb