Word.ws English Dictionary

doldrum

Syllables: dol·drumUK/ˈdɒldɹəm/US/ˈdɑldɹəm/

doldrum noun: a slothful or stupid person.

Noun

doldrum (plural doldrums)

  1. (obsolete, slang) A slothful or stupid person.
    • Were there no "tears and miseries," when the half-witted doldrums, thinking they were not big enough to be seen, put themselves on horseback, to bask and frolic in a procession, and meet their man-midwife, or surgeon, or whatever he is, who had left his business at Norwich, to go to London, for the...1817 April 30, William Hone, “Political Priestcraft, Continued, in another Epistle to the Rev. Dan[iel] Wilson, […]”, in Hone’s Reformists’ Register, and Weekly Commentary, volume I, number 15...

Adjective

doldrum (comparative more doldrum, superlative most doldrum)

  1. Boring, uninteresting.
    • She quit her doldrum job and left to seek a life of adventure.
    Synonyms:
    humdrum

Synonyms of doldrum

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of doldrum

Forms of doldrum

Noun
pluraldoldrums
Adjective
comparativemore doldrum
superlativemost doldrum

Origin of doldrum

The noun is possibly derived from dull or Middle English dold (past participle of dullen, dollen (“to make or become blunt or dull; to make or become dull-witted or stupid; to make or become inactive”), from dul, dol, dolle (“not sharp, blunt, dull; not quick-witted, stupid; lethargic, sluggish”); see further at dull), modelled after tantrum. The adjective is probably derived from the noun.

Words formed from doldrum

Questions about doldrum

What does doldrum mean?
Doldrum means a slothful or stupid person.
What part of speech is doldrum?
Doldrum can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce doldrum?
Doldrum is pronounced /ˈdɒldɹəm/ (UK).
What is the plural of doldrum?
The plural of doldrum is doldrums.

Words near doldrum in the dictionary

  1. dolcettos
  2. dolcian
  3. dolcians
  4. dolcissimo
  5. Dold
  6. doldrum
  7. doldrums
  8. Dolds
  9. dole
  10. dole bludger
  11. dole bludgers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: doldrum (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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