Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Informal Boring and dull; routine: "a ho-hum speaker who couldn't capture the attention of the conventioneers” ( Chicago Tribune).
Wiktionary
- adj. dated, US, Canada Boring; not interesting or novel.
- interj. dated, US, Canada Used to express boredom, disinterest or lack of novelty.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. so lacking in interest as to cause mental weariness
Examples
““No problem,” I said, trying to keep my expression ho-hum.”
“I remember one year snow stayed on the ground from Christmas Eve (beautiful white Christmas) to the end of March, and so new snow was kind of ho-hum.”
“I am so not surprised by the ho-hum reaction of many of those males.”
Web Teacher › A Tipping Point for Women in Tech? Here’s hoping.
“There's a some slight chemistry between leads Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel, but otherwise this rom-com is very ho-hum, says Cath Clarke”
“Seems his ho-hum lack luster performance as well as the turning of public sympathy (what ever little there was before) are the basis for the move.”
“They don't see the ho-hum value of these bar fights for what they are to the vast majority of people just trying to live day to day, because of that emotional investment.”
“As a counterexample, he cites his native Sweden, where the social welfare state tried for much of the 20th century to produce a non-hierarchical society, leaving in its wake several solid decades of ho-hum functional buildings.”
The Wall Street Journal: Making a Mark on Sweden's Landscape
“It was a ho-hum occurrence in New York City, and the stymied walker thought nothing of it.”
The Wall Street Journal: Nadal's New Challenges: 'I'm Not a Kid Anymore'
“Is yet another ho-hum big box retail store more important than a singular landmark, even if owned by one of the city's most powerful developers?”
The Huffington Post: Roberta Brandes Gratz: When Is a Landmark A Landmark?
“I was only a casual observer of the show and even still only think that it is ho-hum.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘ho-hum’.
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Grunts, Sounds, Calls
Aah, achoo, ack, ah, aha, ahem, ah-ha, aw, baa, bah, blah, boo and 64 more...
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unemphasized interjections
technically interjections, but usually not part of any emotive exclamation
okey-doke, ho-hum, welp, big deal, bother, hmm, iunno, mmkay, nah, crumbs, bummer, pfft and 12 more...
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ADW1
obdurate, obstinate, behest, injunction, enjoin, circumspect, ensconce, discursive, lugubrious, doleful, somber, ken and 2476 more...
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Words I just like
hobbitry, obfuscate, moribund, bally, idleness, ale, lostwithiel, elfin, spiffing, wayfaring, methinks, abstruse and 123 more...
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Bizarre Exclamations
zounds, jings, rapscallion, gadzooks, balderdash, knickers in a twist, the spawn of the ..., heavens to murgat..., tickety boo, jim dandy, pickledy poo, goody gumdrops and 33 more...
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Nick nacks
I started a list on the Wordie with a different log-in and now I can't find it. Sigh. So I'm starting again. These are monosyllabic double barrels that I like the sound of. Part of our human instin...
riff-raff, ping-pong, hip-hop, flim-flam, op cit, tip-top, mish-mash, flap-dash, nick-nack, lap-top, can-can, slap-dash and 60 more...
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INTERNET
Tweets
Looking for tweets for ho-hum.
bilby *stifles a yawn* Sep 12, 2008