boring

See also: Boring

English

Etymology

From Middle English boryng (“making a hole”); equivalent to bore +‎ -ing.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbɔː.ɹɪŋ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈboɹ.ɪŋ/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /ˈboː.ɹɪŋ/, /ˈboɹ.ɪŋ/
• (non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /ˈboə.ɹɪŋ/
• Rhymes: -ɔːɹɪŋ

Noun

boring (plural borings)

1. The act or process of boring holes; such practice as an area of expertise in manufacturing.

   Hypernym: machining

   Coordinate terms: drilling (usually coordinate in machining; often synonymous in woodworking), reaming, turning (OD counterpart); milling, broaching, shaping, planing, grinding

   turning and boring

   fine boring with a boring head on a boring mill

2. A pit or hole which has been bored.
   • 1992, J. Patrick Powers, Construction dewatering: new methods and applications, page 191:

     It is common in urban areas that a great many borings exist from prior construction work.

3. (usually in the plural) One of the fragments thrown up when something is bored or drilled.

   Synonym: chips (wood, metal, or plastic)

   Hyponyms: shavings (wood, plastic), swarf (metal)

   Coordinate term: sawdust (wood)

Derived terms

• macroboring
• microboring

 

Verb

boring

1. present participle and gerund of bore

Derived terms

• tunnel boring machine

Adjective

boring (comparative more boring, superlative most boring)

1. Causing boredom or tiredness; making you to feel tired and impatient.

   What a boring film that was! I almost fell asleep.

   • 2023 February 8, Paul Stephen with Howard Smith, “Elizabeth Line: "It's not job done yet"”, in RAIL, number 976, page 35:

     "We've had some moments in the spotlight, and there will be more to come. But boring is good when operating railways.

2. (chiefly Manglish) Suffering from boredom; mildly annoyed and restless through having nothing to do.

   Synonym: bored

   I very boring. ― I am very bored.

3. Used, designed to be used, or able to drill holes.

   boring equipment

   boring snails

4. Capable of penetrating; piercing.
   • 1963, Arthur Upfield, The Lake Frome Monster, London: Pan Books, published 1969, page 11:

     [H]is remarkably blue eyes had the trick of boring concentration.

Synonyms

• dull, mind-numbing (colloquial), tedious
• See also Thesaurus:boring

Derived terms

• boring as beans
• Boring Billion
• boringly
• boringness
• nonboring
• unboring
• wood-boring

 

Related terms

• bore
• bored
• boredom

Translations

causing boredom or tiredness

• Arabic: مُمِلّ (mumill), مُضْجِر (muḍjir)
• Armenian: ձանձրալի (hy) (janjrali)
• Azerbaijani: darıxdırıcı (az), cansıxıcı
• Basque: aspergarri
• Belarusian: абры́длівы (abrýdlivy)
• Bulgarian: ску́чен (bg) (skúčen), доса́ден (bg) (dosáden)
• Catalan: avorrit (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: (formal) 乏味 (zh) (fáwèi), (informal) 無聊／无聊 (zh) (wúliáo), (slang) 沒勁／没劲 (zh) (méijìn)

• Cornish: skwithus
• Czech: nudný (cs)
• Danish: kedelig (da)
• Dutch: saai (nl)
• Esperanto: enua, teda (eo), enuiga
• Faroese: keðiligur, leiðiligur
• Finnish: tylsä (fi), ikävystyttävä (fi)
• French: ennuyeux (fr), barbant (fr), ennuyant (fr)
• Galician: pesado (gl), aburrido
• Georgian: მოსაწყენი (mosac̣q̇eni), მოსაბეზრებელი (mosabezrebeli)
• German: langweilig (de)
• Greek: βαρετός (el) (varetós), πληκτικός (el) (pliktikós), ανιαρός (el) (aniarós)
• Greenlandic: qasunarpoq
• Hebrew: משעמם (mesha'amem)
• Hungarian: unalmas (hu)
• Icelandic: leiðinlegur (is)
• Ido: enoyiganta (io), enoyigiva (io)
• Irish: leadránach
• Italian: noioso (it), palloso (it), tedioso (it), soporifero (it), barboso (it), palloso (it), uggioso (it), stucchevole (it)
• Japanese: つまらない (ja) (tsumaranai), 退屈な (ja) (たいくつな, taikutsu-na), うんざりさせた (ja) (unzari-saseta)
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: 무료하다 (muryohada), 지루하다 (ko) (jiruhada), 재미없다 (ko) (jaemieopda)
• Latin: taediōsus
• Lithuanian: nuobodus
• Luxembourgish: langweileg (lb)
• Malagasy: mankaleo (mg)
• Malay: bosan (ms)
• Maori: hōhā, pāngū, takeo, mākihakiha
• Marathi: कंटाळवाणे n (kaṇṭāḷvāṇe), कंटाळवाणी f (kaṇṭāḷvāṇī), कंटाळवाणा m (kaṇṭāḷvāṇā)
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Norman: enn'yant
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kjedelig (no), kjedsommelig

  Nynorsk: keisam, kjedeleg

• Persian: کسل‌کننده (kesel-konande), ملال‌آور (melâl-âvar), کسالت‌بار (kesâlat-bâr)
• Polish: nudny (pl)
• Portuguese: entediante (pt), enfadonho (pt), chato (pt), maçante (pt)
• Romanian: plictisitor (ro), plicticos (ro), anost (ro), fastidios (ro)
• Russian: ску́чный (ru) (skúčnyj), ну́дный (ru) (núdnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: liosta
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: до̏са̄дан

  Latin: dȍsādan (sh)

• Slovene: dolgočásen (sl)
• Spanish: aburrido (es), tedioso (es), soso (es)
• Swedish: långtråkig (sv)
• Thai: เบื่อ (th) (bʉ̀ʉa), น่าเบื่อ (nâa-bʉ̀ʉa)
• Turkish: sıkıcı (tr)
• Turkmen: tukat
• Ukrainian: нудни́й (nudnýj)
• Vietnamese: chán (vi)
• Welsh: diflas (cy)
• Yiddish: סקוטשנע (skutshne), נודנע (nudne)

Anagrams

• orbing, robing

Danish

Etymology

From the verb bore (“drill”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈb̥oːɐ̯eŋ]

Noun

boring c (singular definite boringen, plural indefinite boringer)

1. drill hole
2. drilling

Inflection

Declension of boring

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	boring	boringen	boringer	boringerne
genitive	borings	boringens	boringers	boringernes

Dutch

Etymology

From boren +‎ -ing.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈboː.rɪŋ/

• Audio (Belgium):

  (file)

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: bo‧ring
• Rhymes: -oːrɪŋ

Noun

boring f (plural boringen, diminutive borinkje n)

1. drilling

   offshoreboring — offshore drilling

2. bore of a car's cylinder or canon