watch paint dry
watch paint dry verb: to watch something that has virtually no movement, hence, something very boring.
Verb
watch paint dry (third-person singular simple present watches paint dry, present participle watching paint dry, simple past and past participle watched paint dry)
- To watch something that has virtually no movement, hence, something very boring.
- I expected his new play to be as good as the last, but it was like watching paint dry.
- I click on it. And wait. And wait. And wait. Why does it take so long? It's so slow. This is worse than watching paint dry. Not that I've actually ever watched paint dry. Or even painted.2012, Sarah Mlynowski, Fishbowl, Harlequin, →ISBN
- Synonyms:
- watch grass grow
Synonyms of watch paint dry
Forms of watch paint dry
| third-person singular present | watches paint dry |
|---|---|
| present participle | watching paint dry |
| past participle | watched paint dry |
| past | watched paint dry |
Questions about watch paint dry
- What does watch paint dry mean?
- Watch paint dry means to watch something that has virtually no movement, hence, something very boring.
- What part of speech is watch paint dry?
- Watch paint dry is a verb.
- What is the past tense of watch paint dry?
- The past tense of watch paint dry is watched paint dry.
Words near watch paint dry in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: watch paint dry (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-watch paint dry.wav.
Cite this entry: “watch paint dry.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/watch_paint_dry. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.