tedious

adjective

te·​dious ˈtē-dē-əs How to pronounce tedious (audio)
ˈtē-jəs
: tiresome because of length or dullness : boring
a tedious public ceremony
tediously adverb
tediousness noun

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The Long and Uneventful History of Tedious

Words frequently change their meanings, and some even will go from meaning one thing to meaning something almost opposite (such as nice, which in its earliest use meant "lewd, wanton, dissolute"). Tedious is not one of these words; its meanings may have shifted over the centuries, but they have always had something to do with irksome, boring, or overlong things. The word comes from the Latin taedēre, meaning “to disgust or weary.” Tedious has been in use since the 15th century and has been included in hundreds of dictionaries, although perhaps none have rendered so poetic and succinct a definition as Nathaniel Bailey’s entry in his 1756 New Universal Etymological English Dictionary: “Wearisome by continuance.”

Examples of tedious in a Sentence

Writing a new spreadsheet or word-processing program these days is a tedious process, like building a skyscraper out of toothpicks. Jeff Goodell, Rolling Stone, 16 June 1994
Another of their assignments was to slow-fly any plane that had a new engine to break it in; that meant flying the aircraft for a tedious hour-and-a-half as slowly as it would possibly go without falling out of the sky. Doris Weatherford, American Women and World War II, 1990
From there, it became clear that the deposition was going to be neither as undramatic nor as quotidian, and even tedious, as it at first appeared. Renata Adler, New Yorker, June 23, 1986
He made a tedious 45-minute speech. The work is tedious, but it needs to get done.
Recent Examples on the Web For many people, wasting hours commuting to and from the office and getting trapped in long, tedious meetings are now non-negotiable items. Jack Kelly, Forbes, 2 Mar. 2024 The onboarding process is long and tedious, requiring hours of paperwork. Jack Kelly, Forbes, 29 Feb. 2024 Look for technological solutions to automate tedious but important tasks, such as generating clean mailing lists. Karla L. Miller, Washington Post, 22 Feb. 2024 Most Popular There is some degree of selfishness required in exiting dynamics that feel negative or one-sided or even just tedious. Carola Lovering, Vogue, 5 Feb. 2024 Automate the mundane: One thing AI is best for is making tedious tasks quick and easy. Kim Komando, USA TODAY, 25 Jan. 2024 After leaving the system, Fitzpatrick said, the process of maintaining accurate voting rolls has been less efficient and more tedious on county clerks. Kacen Bayless, Kansas City Star, 22 Jan. 2024 Thousands watched a livestream of the proceedings, even during tedious lawyerly exchanges about legal theory, while some prominent local figures -- including Atlanta's current mayor -- dropped in to witness the hearing in person. Kate Brumback, arkansasonline.com, 17 Feb. 2024 Blazer upkeep can be tedious with trips to the dry cleaners, but this ponte fabric piece can be tossed into the washer—no fuss. Gabriela Izquierdo, Southern Living, 17 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'tedious.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Late Latin taediosus, from Latin taedium — see tedium

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of tedious was in the 15th century

Dictionary Entries Near tedious

Cite this Entry

“Tedious.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tedious. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

tedious

adjective
te·​dious ˈtēd-ē-əs How to pronounce tedious (audio)
ˈtē-jəs
: tiring because of length or dullness : boring
tediously adverb
tediousness noun

More from Merriam-Webster on tedious

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