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tedium

American  
[tee-dee-uhm] / ˈti di əm /

noun

  1. the quality or state of being wearisome; irksomeness; tediousness.

    Synonyms:
    dullness, sameness, monotony
tedium British  
/ ˈtiːdɪəm /

noun

  1. the state of being bored or the quality of being boring; monotony

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of tedium

First recorded in 1655–65, tedium is from the Latin word taedium

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The depictions of the “tediums and treacheries” of the clerk’s office are especially winning.

From The Wall Street Journal

Artificial intelligence could cut the time and tedium of preparing your 2025 tax return.

From Barron's

I will admit there is still the tedium of being forced to do arithmetic until my mind aches.

From Literature

Some matches drag on in interminable tedium, others are over in the blink of an eye.

From BBC

In the seesawing tedium of daily traffic, slow and fast, the e-motor silently and seamlessly supports the big V8 in those few hundred milliseconds it takes to spool up.

From The Wall Street Journal

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.