doldrums
/ˈdɒldɹəmz/
"doldrums" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“doldrums” is an uncommon English word, ranked #57,346 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #57,346
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Usually preceded by the: a state of apathy or lack of interest; a situation where one feels boredom, ennui, or tedium; a state of listlessness or malaise.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | doldrums |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈdɒldɹəmz/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #57,346 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “doldrums” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for doldrums is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈdɒldɹəmz/. Corpus data places it at rank #57,346 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Zero misspellings are on record for doldrums in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From obsolete doldrum (“slothful or stupid person”) plus the plural suffix -s. Doldrum 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 mak… The correct English form is doldrums, spelled D-O-L-D-R-U-M-S.
Definition
- 1Usually preceded by the: a state of apathy or lack of interest; a situation where one feels boredom, ennui, or tedium; a state of listlessness or malaise.
- 2Usually preceded by the: the state of a sailing ship when it is impeded by calms or light, baffling winds, and is unable to make progress.
- 3Usually preceded by the: a part of the ocean near the equator where calms, squalls, and light, baffling winds are common.
Etymology
From obsolete doldrum (“slothful or stupid person”) plus the plural suffix -s. Doldrum 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.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “doldrums”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-O-L-D-R-U-M-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈdɒldɹəmz/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.