bored
bored
Pronunciation
The word "bored" has the following IPA phonetic spelling: /bɔːrd/
Here's a breakdown of the sounds in its single syllable:
/b/ - as in bat
/ɔː/ - as in door
/r/ - as in red
/d/ - as in dog
Word Form Variations
"Bored" is primarily a past participle and past tense form of the verb "bore," and also functions as an adjective.
Verb Forms:
Base form: bore
Present participle: boring
Past tense: bored
Past participle: bored
Third-person singular simple present: bores
Adjective: bored (can be used to describe a state)
Noun: boredom (related noun, derived from the state of being bored)
Definitions, Synonyms and Antonyms
Adjective
Definition 1: Feeling weary and impatient because one is unoccupied, lacks interest in one's current activity, or finds something dull and unstimulating.
Synonyms: uninterested, unamused, listless, fed up, jaded, weary
Antonyms: interested, excited, engaged, stimulated, entertained, enthusiastic
Verb (Past Tense / Past Participle of "Bore")
Definition 1 (Past Tense): To have caused someone to feel weary and impatient due to lack of interest or stimulation.
Example: The long lecture bored the students.
Synonyms: wearied, dulled, tired, fatigued, droned on, palled
Antonyms: interested, amused, engaged, stimulated, entertained, thrilled
Definition 2 (Past Participle - passive voice): To be affected by a lack of interest or stimulation, often as a result of an unengaging activity or situation.
Example: She was easily bored by repetitive tasks.
Synonyms: uninterested, unamused, jaded, weary, disengaged, indifferent
Antonyms: interested, excited, engaged, captivated, fascinated, amused
Examples of Use
Books:
"Eleanor Vance was quite bored with her life in the quiet village; nothing ever seemed to happen." (From The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson)
"He had grown so bored with the incessant chatter of his companions that he began to stare out the window, counting the passing cars."
Newspapers:
"Readers are getting bored of the same old political rhetoric, survey suggests." ( The Guardian)
"Local residents are bored with the constant delays in public transport, leading to renewed calls for service improvements." ( Daily Nation)
Online Publications:
"Are you feeling bored at work? Here are five strategies to boost your engagement." ( Forbes.com)
"Why Gen Z is often accused of being easily bored, and what it means for content creators." ( Vox.com)
Entertainment Mediums and Platforms:
Television Series: "I'm so bored, there's nothing good on TV tonight." (Line of dialogue from a character in an episode of The Office (US), aired November 2007)
Film Review: "While the visuals are stunning, the plot left me utterly bored and disengaged." (From a film review on Rotten Tomatoes, October 2023)
Podcast: "Our guest today talks about how she never gets bored with her work, even after twenty years in the industry." (From a recent episode of The Tim Ferriss Show, December 2024)
Video Game Forum: "Anyone else getting bored of the grind in this new update? Needs more content!" (User post on a gaming forum for Elden Ring, February 2025)
General Public Discourse:
"The kids were getting really bored on the long car journey, so we stopped for ice cream." (Heard in a casual conversation at a park)
"I'm bored of cooking the same meals every week; I need some new recipes." (A common complaint among home cooks)
"Don't tell me you're bored already! We've only been here for ten minutes." (A parent to a child at a family gathering)
10 Quotes Using Bored
"The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity." (Dorothy Parker)
"I've never been bored in my life, though I've been a lot of other things, often." (John Betjeman)
"I am easily bored, which is why I do so many things." (Tori Amos)
"If you are bored with life, and you don't take risks, then you're not living it." (Will Smith)
"A man is not bored if he is with himself, or with a good book." (Thomas Jefferson)
"I was so bored being a waiter, so I started writing a show." (Lin-Manuel Miranda)
"I've always been a bit bored by anything that's too simple." (Miuccia Prada)
"It is when we are most bored that we are most ourselves." (Alain de Botton)
"People are only as bored as they choose to be." (Wayne Dyer)
"The secret of being a bore is to tell everything." (Voltaire - often paraphrased as "The art of being a bore is to say everything.")
Etymology
The word "bored" comes from the verb "bore," and its journey to meaning "feeling unamused" is quite interesting!
Originally, way back in the 14th century, "bore" meant to make a hole in something with a tool, like drilling a hole in wood. Think of a drill boring into a surface. This meaning is still used today (e.g., "to bore a tunnel").
Then, around the 18th century, a new sense of "bore" emerged. This is where it gets closer to our modern meaning. It started to mean "to weary or annoy someone by being dull, tedious, or uninteresting." Imagine someone boring into your head with endless, dull talk – it's like they're slowly drilling away at your patience! This is the first known use where the feeling of being unamused or weary started to appear.
So, when we say someone is "bored," it's like their patience or interest has been "drilled" away by something dull or unstimulating. The feeling of being "bored" (as an adjective, like "I am bored") emerged directly from this sense of the verb "bore."
Phrases + Idioms Containing Bored
Bored to tears: Extremely bored.
Bored to death: Extremely bored (an exaggeration).
Bored stiff: Very bored and restless.
Bored out of one's mind: Feeling intensely bored and weary.
To bore a hole in someone's head: To talk incessantly and tediously, causing extreme boredom.
A bored expression/look: A facial expression that clearly indicates a lack of interest.
To be bored with life: To feel a general sense of ennui and lack of interest in existence.
Been there, done that, got the t-shirt: (Implies being bored with something because it's been experienced many times before).
The same old song and dance: (Implies something is repetitive and thus boring).
Dull as dishwater: (An idiom describing something extremely boring).
Vocabulary-Based Stories from SEA
Source Information
Definition of bored from The Academic Glossary at Self Exploration Academy, a Urikville Press Publication. © All rights reserved.
