hum ‧ drum /ˈhʌmdrʌm/ BrE AmE adjective
[ Date: 1500-1600 ; Origin: hum ]
boring and ordinary, and having no variety or interest SYN tedious
humdrum existence/job/life etc
the prisoners’ humdrum routine
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THESAURUS
▪ boring not interesting in any way:
a boring speech
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He found school incredibly boring.
▪ not very interesting [not before noun] very ordinary and therefore rather boring. People often use this phrase in everyday English, instead of saying directly that something is boring :
The story wasn’t very interesting.
▪ dull especially written boring:
The conference was usually a dull affair.
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Life was never dull.
▪ tedious /ˈtiːdiəs/ very boring and continuing for a long time:
The process was tedious and slow.
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Jake began the tedious task of sorting through his papers.
▪ monotonous /məˈnɒt ə nəs $ məˈnɑː-/ boring and always the same:
The work was monotonous and unchallenging.
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He was only half listening to the monotonous voice of the teacher.
▪ mundane /mʌnˈdeɪn/ rather boring, because it is connected with things you do regularly as part of your daily life:
He busied himself with the mundane task of cleaning the house.
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Most arguments are over mundane issues like spending or saving money.
▪ humdrum /ˈhʌmdrʌm/ [usually before noun] boring because nothing new or interesting ever happens:
He wanted to escape his humdrum life.
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a humdrum existence
▪ dry a subject, piece of writing etc that is dry is boring because it is very serious and does not contain any humour:
The students complained that the lecture was dry and uninspiring.
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a dry academic volume