Skip to content
E EnglishDart
A2

Bored vs Boring

Bored describes how you feel. Boring describes the thing that causes the feeling. The film was boring, so I felt bored.

The one-line answer

Bored describes how you feel. Boring describes the thing that causes the feeling. The film was boring, so I felt bored.

bored

adjective

feeling tired and uninterested — describes a person's emotion

  • The students looked bored during the lecture.
  • I'm bored — let's do something.
  • She was bored with her job.

boring

adjective

not interesting — describes the thing, person or activity

  • The meeting was really boring.
  • He thinks golf is boring.
  • It was the most boring book I've read.

Memory trick

The -ed ending describes your emotion (boRED = you feel it). The -ing ending describes the cause (borING = it does it to you). Same rule for interested/interesting, tired/tiring, excited/exciting.

Bored vs Boring: Test yourself

Question 1 of 2

The documentary was so ___ that I fell asleep.