Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Causing physical or mental fatigue; tedious or tiresome.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Causing weariness; tiresome; tedious; irksome; monotonous: as, a wearisome march; a wearisome day's work.
- Synonyms Wearisome, Fatiguing, Tiresome, Tedious, Irksome, prolix, humdrum, prosy, dull. Wearisome and fatiguing are essentially the same in meaning and strength; they are equally appropriate whether the person acts or is acted upon: as, the old man was so deaf that it was equally wearisome (or fatiguing) to speak and to be spoken to. Tiresome is more often used where one is acted upon; in strength it is the same as
wearisome. Tedious is stronger than wearisome, and suggests the need of constant effort of the will to do or to endure; the weariness may be, physical or mental r as, a tedious task; a tedious headache; tedious garrulity. Tedious suggests commonly that one is acted upon; irksome suggests that one acts or is called upon to act, and implies also a peculiar reluctance. In Shak., 2 Hen. VI., ii. 1. 56, is an example of the rarer use of irksome to express a wearied shrinking from being acted upon: “How irksome is this music to my heart!” Seefatigue , n., and tire, transitive verb
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Causing weariness; tiresome; tedious; weariful.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective
Tiresome ,tedious or causingfatigue .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective so lacking in interest as to cause mental weariness
Etymologies
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Examples
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Roll aside the panorama of the three-hours 'Sunday service of two centuries ago, lest that which was not called wearisome in the passing prove wearisome in the delineation now.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 12, No. 71, September, 1863 Various
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With regard to the appearance of the toxines, it was found that they were abundantly produced during the performance of "wearisome" work, whereas there were only traces of them to be found when the work was
Spontaneous Activity in Education Maria Montessori 1911
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How it had crept into her consciousness she could not understand; she lay still, listening, but the tic-toc seemed to fit the syllables of his name; and when, annoyed, she made a half disdainful mental attempt to substitute other syllables, it proved too much of an effort, and back into its sober, swinging rhythm slipped the old clock's tic-toe, in wearisome, meaningless repetition:
Ailsa Paige 1899
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All so lately full of refinement, of enchantment -- the music, the pictures, the easy intercourse -- all was stupid, wearisome, meaningless!
Home Again George MacDonald 1864
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Has the prize become routinely stuck on a conveyor belt of winners depicting sport as a wearisome battle against mental, addictive or physical adversity?
William Hill must be brought to book for sport prize's lack of joy | Frank Keating 2011
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Like literary Monets, Maxwell and Welty maintained somewhat wearisome passions for depicting their gardens.
Staving Off Oblivion Abigail Deutsch 2011
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Its pleasures are insipid, its pursuits wearisome, its conventionalities, duties, and mutual dependence alike tedious and disgusting.
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Yet the action grows wearisome as it grinds on, and the film becomes a succession of dazzling set pieces devoid of simple feelings.
'Tattoo': Raw, Rousing and Rather Redundant Joe Morgenstern 2011
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Its pleasures are insipid, its pursuits wearisome, its conventionalities, duties, and mutual dependence alike tedious and disgusting.
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I felt that oppressive and wearisome gloom leave my being, a feeling I haven't felt since childhood.
Police And Thieves Damion Hamilton 2012
mollusque commented on the word wearisome
I also had the misfortune of meeting here a very learned man of a very wearisome kind; he knew the names of ten thousand shells by heart, and I was obliged to listen to him for two hours, although I was totally ignorant of his science.
---Memoirs of Casanova
November 11, 2007