longueur

/lɒŋˈ(ɡ)əː/

Etymology

Borrowed from French longueur (literally “length”).

Why this word is great

LONGUEUR — [Noun] A lengthy and tedious passage in a dramatic or literary work. Borrowed from French longueur, literally 'length,' it is the textual equivalent of a forced march through wet sand. Unlike a 'digression' (which may meander with purpose) or an 'interlude' (which offers respite), a longueur is the grinding halt of narrative momentum. It is the third act of a play that refuses to end, the bloated middle chapter of a novel where nothing happens twice, or the speech that drones on long after the audience has stopped listening—proof that time, when poorly managed, can become a form of punishment.

noun

A lengthy passage in a dramatic or literary work, especially a dull or tedious one; a period of boredom.“Most of the reasons given for its disappearance make sense: people are happier, busier; the work done by the anti-Freudian skeptics has finally taken hold of the popular imagination, so that people have no time for analytic longueurs and no patience with its mystifications.”