1
as in boring
causing weariness, restlessness, or lack of interest
a leaden performance of a classic American play that nearly put us to sleep
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2
as in grey
of the color gray
the leaden sky made everything seem dark and depressing
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of leaden
Exhausted now, his blood pressure mounting, Cassidy sits heavily, leaden, on the edge of the bed.
—
Joyce Carol Oates, The New Yorker, 16 Mar. 2025
And treading water is making my legs and arms feel leaden.
—Lizz Schumer, People.com, 3 Mar. 2025
The subtext becomes text, and the film isn’t quite scary enough to make up for its mostly leaden message.
—Tim Grierson, Vulture, 21 Feb. 2025
But Betancourt’s approach feels leaden with reference and citation, too often leaning on a catalog of cultural properties to advance an argument that is, at its heart, empirical.
—Jake Nevins, New York Times, 16 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for leaden
Joyce Carol Oates, The New Yorker, 16 Mar. 2025
And treading water is making my legs and arms feel leaden.
—Lizz Schumer, People.com, 3 Mar. 2025
The subtext becomes text, and the film isn’t quite scary enough to make up for its mostly leaden message.
—Tim Grierson, Vulture, 21 Feb. 2025
But Betancourt’s approach feels leaden with reference and citation, too often leaning on a catalog of cultural properties to advance an argument that is, at its heart, empirical.
—Jake Nevins, New York Times, 16 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for leaden
Recent Examples of Synonyms for leaden
Adjective
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Farming takes so long and is so boring, some of us said.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
11 Sep. 2025
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The Clark County Fire Department said that tunnel boring operations had been temporarily halted at the site pending an ongoing accident investigation.—
Jessica Mathews,
Fortune,
11 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Biden, who ended his bid for a second White House term 107 days before last year's election, has been relatively slow to move on presidential library planning compared with most of his recent predecessors.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
7 Sep. 2025
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With Parkinson’s, doctors implant electrodes in the brain that produce electrical impulses to disrupt the abnormal signals that cause tremors, stiffness and slow movement.—
Jen Christensen,
CNN Money,
7 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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It’s set in a small-town community in upstate New York, where the long-gray-haired and bearded Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin) is the contempo version of a fire-and-brimstone cult leader, preaching fury in the form of piety.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
7 Sep. 2025
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But Leticia Gutierrez, a gray-haired Catholic nun, asked them to sit down.—
Lauren Villagran,
USA Today,
7 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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While Schneider was expressing his feelings about the unknown state of Judge’s normally rocket arm, the Yankees seemed weary about answering these kind of inquiries.—
Larry Fleisher,
Forbes.com,
7 Sep. 2025
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Where Shy was the subject of Porter’s slender book — which is really more of a beat-poetry day-in-the-life monologue — the focus shifts here to the weary headmaster who’s been fighting on the students’ behalf all these years.—
Peter Debruge,
Variety,
6 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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The Woodward Jacket is reimagined in fine Italian lambskin leather with a unique silver herringbone print, paying homage to traditional menswear fabrics, a brand staple.—
Cassell Ferere,
Forbes.com,
9 Sep. 2025
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Cut two ways, it will be shown in lace with a sheer jersey lining and in a silver metallic knit resembling the chainmail of the Knights Templar.—
Ari Stark,
Footwear News,
9 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Early on, the dull chamber music of the Ferrari 296’s wide-angle V6 gas-electric hybrid powertrain was roundly criticized.—
Mark Ewing,
Forbes.com,
10 Sep. 2025
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Rather than efficiently dicing and slicing your produce, a dull knife actually requires more force, which can cause you or someone else in your household to get hurt.—
BestReviews,
Mercury News,
9 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Without a strict hierarchy or single decision-maker, our process can sometimes be slow, messy, or even tiring.—
Caterina De Biasio,
Vogue,
11 Sep. 2025
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The film is a mess, opaque in its argument and tiring in its effortful weirdness, and yet in its best moments has a hypnotic pull.—
Richard Lawson,
HollywoodReporter,
7 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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The recent rash of CEOs Gone Wild is arguably even stupider than commonplace fraud, and a troubling sign that there continues to be a slippery slope of accountability for C-Suite leadership.—
Ian Chaffee,
Fortune,
5 Sep. 2025
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The accounts team logs in right on time, and the stupid dance of platitudes that precedes every meeting at every company around the world begins.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
5 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Leaden.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/leaden. Accessed 13 Sep. 2025.
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