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leaden

adjective

ˈle-dᵊn How to pronounce leaden (audio)
Definition of leadennext
1
as in boring
causing weariness, restlessness, or lack of interest a leaden performance of a classic American play that nearly put us to sleep

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in gray
of the color gray the leaden sky made everything seem dark and depressing

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of leaden When Ronaldo took possession, the 41-year-old striker looked leaden. — Jacob Whitehead, New York Times, 18 June 2026 For how vibrant and buoyant the film’s cinematography, production design, and costume design are, the script and its laborious dialogue are twice as leaden. — Angelica Jade Bastién, Vulture, 23 May 2026 On a rainy morning the vistas are wild and windswept, both sea and sky taking on leaden hues; on a sunny afternoon, the blue waves roll towards the land in hypnotic lines, merging into the sky. — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 27 Apr. 2026 But there was nothing overstuffed or leaden about Harth-Bedoya’s interpretation. — Scott Cantrell, Dallas Morning News, 22 Mar. 2026 See All Example Sentences for leaden
Recent Examples of Synonyms for leaden
  1. boring
  2. gray
  3. slow
  4. silver
  5. dull
  6. tiring
  7. weary
  8. stupid
Adjective
  • As a matter of fact, this will probably be one of the more boring editions of this column.
    — Gary Davenport, New York Times, 15 Sep. 2026
  • Alice’s viewpoint is boring, and anyone who agonizes about it forever will never get to the interesting parts.
    — Jay Caspian Kang, New Yorker, 15 Sep. 2026
Definition of boring
Adjective
  • Images on social media showed rescuers pulling the woman from the house, wrapped in a gray blanket.
    — Jon Haworth, ABC News, 5 Sep. 2026
  • The 237 rooms and suites are serene, understated, and elegant, with paneled walls in dove gray and pale blue; beige marble and gold bathrooms; and the amenity du jour, pillow menus.
    — Eddi Fiegel, Robb Report, 3 Sep. 2026
Definition of gray
Adjective
  • Complex carbs with fiber slow digestion and sugar absorption, while protein and fat further delay digestion, helping to stabilize blood sugar.
    — Mira Miller, Verywell Health, 17 Sep. 2026
  • Longer messages mean slower communication, so people who study error-correcting codes devise more elaborate schemes to minimize the redundancy in the transmissions while maximizing the number of errors that can be corrected.
    — Jack Murtagh, Scientific American, 17 Sep. 2026
Definition of slow
Adjective
  • Miniature Bellinis, freshly frothed from large pitchers, swirled about on silver trays, happily scooped up by passersby.
    — Leigh Nordstrom, Footwear News, 16 Sep. 2026
  • The mom of two wore a black and silver flowy dress, while her son looked dapper in a black suit and silver tie.
    — Kayla Grant, PEOPLE, 15 Sep. 2026
Definition of silver
Adjective
  • Coach Sean McVay’s strategy of arriving the day before the game backfired and resulted in a dull performance by a team featuring some of the NFL’s biggest stars.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 11 Sep. 2026
  • If Khrzhanovsky’s goal was re-creating social and cultural conditions to capture drama at its purest, then the result merely proves Hitchcock’s refrain that drama is life with dull bits cut out.
    — Siddhant Adlakha, IndieWire, 9 Sep. 2026
Definition of dull
Adjective
  • Soreness began settling in, and Mincey taught us a technique for safely walking on locked knees to spare our tiring muscles, which got us through the steep and gravelly hike.
    — Sacbee.com, Sacbee.com, 5 Sep. 2026
  • But keeping that up can be a tiring proposition once a Grand Slam rolls around.
    — Rebecca Tauber, New York Times, 3 Sep. 2026
Definition of tiring
Adjective
  • But the image that emerges here is of an already war-weary, fragile and poor country being pushed ever closer to a breaking point.
    — Nic Robertson, CNN Money, 10 Sep. 2026
  • In war-weary Lebanon, Israeli strikes have intensified in response to Hezbollah drone attacks.
    — Suzan Haidamous, Washington Post, 8 Sep. 2026
Definition of weary
Adjective
  • The humor is like laughing about something that was just so stupid, or something that was so traumatic.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 15 Sep. 2026
  • That’s the problem with all of your arguments and stupid comments.
    — Marissa R. Moss, Rolling Stone, 15 Sep. 2026
Definition of stupid

Browse Nearby Words

lead
leaden
leader
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Cite this Entry

“Leaden.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/leaden. Accessed 19 Sep. 2026.

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