wear out

verb

wore out; worn out; wearing out; wears out

transitive verb

1

: tire, exhaust

2

: to make useless especially by long or hard usage

3

: erase, efface

4

: to endure through : outlast

wear out a storm

5

: to consume (time) tediously

wear out idle days

intransitive verb

: to become useless from long or excessive wear or use

Synonyms of wear out

• wear
• kill
• tire
• exhaust
• drain
• burn out

Examples of wear out in a Sentence

keeping up with twin toddlers wears me out

Recent Examples on the Web

The contemporary artist added that the shoes in the collection are meant to look worn out and discolored from walking through puddles and have marks on the sides colored with a pen. —Stephen Garner, Footwear News, 11 May 2026

Don’t wear out your welcome in the game. —Kyle Eustice, SPIN, 11 May 2026

Units that run for extended periods at low temperatures may wear out more quickly than those used intermittently or in an eco-friendly mode. —Nafeesah Allen, Better Homes & Gardens, 10 May 2026

As plastics break down, whether that be through washing polyester clothing or wearing out our tires, microscopic particles of plastic shed, small enough to be picked up and transported by the air. —Simmone Shah, Time, 7 May 2026

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Rhymes for wear out

• about
• bailout
• blackout
• blowout
• breakout
• burnout
• buyout
• checkout
• closeout
• cutout
• devout
• dropout

Kids Definition

wear out

verb

1

: to tire gradually

worn out from exercising

2

: to make or become useless by wear