/laɪk ˈwɒtʃɪŋ ˈpeɪnt ˈdɹaɪ/
English idiom, informal. Something is so boring it wears you out.
Draft Not yet checked by a native English speaker.
How do people use Like watching paint dry
?
Informal and jokey, for a lecture, film, meeting or sport where nothing happens for a very long time. It usually follows “it’s like” or a comparison: “as boring as watching paint dry”, or sarcastically “about as exciting as watching paint dry”. People also say “I’d rather watch paint dry” about something they don’t want to do.
Also said as boring as watching paint dry, as exciting as watching paint dry
Like watching paint dry
in real sentences
-
The lecture was as boring as watching paint dry.
Tatoeba, sentence by patgfisher, CC BY 2.0 FR
-
My ethics professor’s lessons are as exciting as watching paint dry.
Tatoeba, sentence by CM, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does Like watching paint dry
come from?
Nobody knows who said it first. English Wiktionary lists it as humorous and gives only modern quotations, with “watch grass grow” as a twin. The joke is plain enough: drying paint is about the most motionless thing you could choose to stare at.
Mistakes learners make with Like watching paint dry
Learners try “like seeing paint dry” or “like watching the paint drying”. The fixed form is “watching paint dry”.
Other English idioms like Like watching paint dry
Spot a mistake in Like watching paint dry
?
Send a correction, or a sentence you’d actually say with it. Everything is read before anything on this page changes.