tedium

noun

te·​di·​um ˈtē-dē-əm How to pronounce tedium (audio)
1
: the quality or state of being tedious : tediousness
also : boredom
2
: a tedious period of time

Examples of tedium in a Sentence

The movie was three hours of tedium. I took a day off to relieve the tedium of work.
Recent Examples on the Web When Betty Buckley’s grandmotherly scholar shows up to give us a crash course in the cultural history of kids with spirit besties, an already weak film suddenly exhibits the tedium of a book report. Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, 8 Mar. 2024 Amazon Looking to reduce the tedium of controlling multiple smart home devices, Amazon is also updating Alexa to simplify smart home commands. Scharon Harding, Ars Technica, 21 Sep. 2023 The first day especially was wasted by the tedium of finding people to follow, curating the flow and types of conversation that fit my needs. Jason Parham, WIRED, 19 Feb. 2024 The pastors were careful not to linger too long in the tedium of Biblical history, instead deploying humor and everyday references — who hasn’t had sinful thoughts while driving in Miami traffic? Lauren Costantino, Miami Herald, 2 Feb. 2024 Baked too long, the cake will burn, suspense turned to tedium. Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times, 4 Jan. 2024 At moments — or rather, for extended stretches — these vignettes sail close to the wind of sheer tedium, but there is method in the drabness. Giles Harvey, New York Times, 19 Dec. 2023 As the industry of election spectacle coalesces once again, the regular ugliness of the right has utterly lost its shock value, making the tedium a kind of anti-spectacle. Doreen St. Félix, The New Yorker, 8 Dec. 2023 Lately he’s been mentoring an apprentice, a student from nearby Maine College of Art & Design, who shares his taste in music and also for tedium. Melanie Stetson Freeman, The Christian Science Monitor, 18 Dec. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'tedium.' 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

Latin taedium disgust, irksomeness, from taedēre to disgust, weary

First Known Use

1662, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of tedium was in 1662

Dictionary Entries Near tedium

Cite this Entry

“Tedium.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tedium. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

tedium

noun
te·​di·​um ˈtēd-ē-əm How to pronounce tedium (audio)
: the quality or state of being tedious : boredom

More from Merriam-Webster on tedium

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