as in boring
causing weariness, restlessness, or lack of interest
that movie is just a series of mind-numbing explosions and car chases
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Recent Examples of mind-numbing
This doesn’t change the fact that describing someone browsing the web or scrolling without end can be mind-numbing.
—
Maya Chung, The Atlantic, 16 Jan. 2026
As with every year, our theaters and smart TVs will be filled with a sometimes cheerful mix of heady award hopefuls, mind-numbing but merry comedies, big box office blowouts and some out-of-left-field curveballs.
—Dan Heching, CNN Money, 29 Nov. 2025
The Browns probably weren’t going to be able to drive 70-plus yards in around 90 seconds to either tie the game or give themselves a chance to win, but the mind-numbing penalties took any hypothetical last-second heroics out of the storyline.
—Zac Jackson, New York Times, 10 Nov. 2025
Yes, this may have been a mind-numbing barrage of percentages.
—Edward Lotterman, Twin Cities, 14 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for mind-numbing
Maya Chung, The Atlantic, 16 Jan. 2026
As with every year, our theaters and smart TVs will be filled with a sometimes cheerful mix of heady award hopefuls, mind-numbing but merry comedies, big box office blowouts and some out-of-left-field curveballs.
—Dan Heching, CNN Money, 29 Nov. 2025
The Browns probably weren’t going to be able to drive 70-plus yards in around 90 seconds to either tie the game or give themselves a chance to win, but the mind-numbing penalties took any hypothetical last-second heroics out of the storyline.
—Zac Jackson, New York Times, 10 Nov. 2025
Yes, this may have been a mind-numbing barrage of percentages.
—Edward Lotterman, Twin Cities, 14 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for mind-numbing
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mind-numbing
Adjective
-
Supporting your bone health doesn’t have to be complicated or boring.—
Lauren Manaker,
SELF,
6 Feb. 2026
-
Halftime shows for many years were also fairly boring affairs.—
David Hill,
Rolling Stone,
6 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
It's been a cold, tiring week, but the light at the end of the tunnel that is a Saturday at Ikea picking out lamp shades is finally within sight.—
Joe Mutascio,
IndyStar,
6 Feb. 2026
-
But studies have also shown that consuming caffeine before a mentally tiring task reduces the feeling of cognitive fatigue.—
Katharine Gammon,
Time,
6 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
The studio believes that February, once seen as a slow month for moviegoing, has become a much more lucrative corridor to release films.—
Brent Lang,
Variety,
6 Feb. 2026
-
What was once a slow squeeze has become an acute system failure for patients statewide.—
Andrew Hevesi,
New York Daily News,
6 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Being able to be in a room full of comedians being stupid and funny like this is a once in a lifetime opportunity.—
Matt Grobar,
Deadline,
4 Feb. 2026
-
Republican primary voters who do stupid things and vote for candidates with no chance of winning suffer the consequences.—
Kevin Igoe,
Baltimore Sun,
4 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
But all work and no play can make for a dull chief medical officer.—
Ed Silverman,
STAT,
30 Jan. 2026
-
People living in Bridgeville were excited to see dull pavement.—
Chris Hoffman,
CBS News,
29 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Thirty years of closure didn’t slow down progress Despite more than half a century of entertainment, the State Theatre closed in 1990 as other movie theaters started popping up and the mechanics of the building became weary.—
Angela George,
Sioux Falls Argus Leader,
23 Jan. 2026
-
Every imaginable class is on offer at the state-of-the-art fitness center and movement studios and weary muscles can be revived by hitting the Springhouse Circuit, which includes a salt room, cedar sauna, hyperbaric oxygen chamber, tepidarium, and cold plunge.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
22 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Hues like blush and dusty rose pair well with sandy neutrals, soft grays, and even more saturated colors like teal and fuchsia.—
Ariel Wodarcyk,
InStyle,
6 Feb. 2026
-
Many objects are very dusty, many objects are located behind dust-rich regions of our own galaxy, and dust itself is a physical object made out of particles with a range of grain sizes.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
4 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Of the final contenders—Zaida the Afghan hound, Cookie the Maltese, JJ the Lhasa apso, Graham the Old English sheepdog, Cota the Chesapeake Bay retriever, Penny the Doberman pinscher, and Wager the smooth fox terrier—four-year-old Penny was crowned the year’s top dog.—
Poupay Jutharat,
Vogue,
4 Feb. 2026
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The 83-year-old senator has had multiple health issues over the past few years, including publicly freezing during a press conference in 2023 and falling ahead of a Senate vote in October 2025.—
Lillian Metzmeier,
Louisville Courier Journal,
4 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Mind-numbing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mind-numbing. Accessed 9 Feb. 2026.
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