Bored vs boring
Bored usually describes how a person feels when nothing holds their interest. Boring describes the person or thing that causes that feeling, so a boring movie or a boring speaker makes you bored.
Look at the ending: -ing is the cause (boring), -ed is the feeling (bored).
bored adjective
Feeling restless and a little annoyed because you have nothing to do or nothing holds your interest.
- By the third hour of the conference, half the audience looked bored.
- The kids got bored after two days of rain kept them inside.
boring adjective
Not interesting, so it makes you feel tired and ready to stop listening or paying attention.
- The lecture was boring, and half the audience was checking their phones.
- He spent a boring afternoon filling out the same form again and again.
Watch out
- Bore can also mean to drill a hole. In that meaning, bored is the past form, and boring is the form for an action that is happening now or continuing.The crew bored one hole on Monday and was boring another on Tuesday.
- Some people say I was boring to mean I was bored, but most listeners hear it as I was dull. Use bored for how you feel.I was so bored at the bus stop that I started counting cars.
Test yourself
The lecture was so blank that I stopped listening after ten minutes.
Show answer
boring. The lecture is the thing that causes the feeling. A lecture cannot feel anything.
blank by the long speech, Sam started to yawn.
Show answer
bored. Sam is the person who has the feeling. The speech is what caused it.
Engineers blank a tunnel through the hill last spring.
Show answer
bored. This is the drilling meaning. Last spring shows the action is finished, so use the past form.
Waiting in line at the bank is blank.
Show answer
boring. Waiting in line is the activity that causes the feeling.