weary

adjective

Save Word

wea·ry | \ ˈwir-ē

wearier; weariest

Definition of weary

(Entry 1 of 2)

1 : exhausted in strength, endurance, vigor, or freshness

2 : expressing or characteristic of weariness a weary sign

3 : having one's patience, tolerance, or pleasure exhausted —used with ofsoon grew weary of waiting

4 : wearisome

weary

verb

wea·ry | \ ˈwir-ē

wearied; wearying

Definition of weary (Entry 2 of 2)

intransitive verb

: to become weary

transitive verb

: to make weary

Other Words from weary Synonyms & Antonyms Choose the Right Synonym Sick and Tired: The Literal and Figurative Meanings of Lassitude More Example Sentences Learn More about weary

Keep scrolling for more

Choose the Right Synonym for weary

Verb

tire, weary, fatigue, exhaust, jade mean to make or become unable or unwilling to continue. tire implies a draining of one's strength or patience. the long ride tired us out weary stresses tiring until one is unable to endure more of the same thing. wearied of the constant arguing fatigue suggests great lassitude from excessive strain or undue effort. fatigued by the day's chores exhaust implies complete draining of strength by hard exertion. shoveling snow exhausted him jade suggests the loss of all freshness and eagerness. appetites jaded by overindulgence

Sick and Tired: The Literal and Figurative Meanings of Lassitude

Lassitude and weariness make an interesting pair. As with many nearly synonymous pairs of words in English, one is derived from Latin and the other from Old English. Even though they both mean “the condition of being tired,” they are used in different ways. Following a common pattern, the Latinate word tends to be used in technical, medical, and formal writing, and the Old English-derived word is used when referring to physical, emotional, and spiritual qualities.

Lassitude comes from the Latin word lassus, meaning “weary.” Our English spelling comes from the French word that developed directly from Latin, borrowed in the 15th century. In French, the word las (masculine) or lasse (feminine) means “weary” or “tired,” and the idiom être las de means “to be sick and tired of.” This led to another English word with the same root: alas, a word that expresses sadness or disappointment, but conveys some measure of fatigue and resignation as well.

Though it sometimes is just a fancy word for fatigue in medical contexts, lassitude is also used in ways that are metaphorical and closer in meaning to “negligence”:

Congress was being choked by pettiness and lassitude.
The case was delayed because of sheer lassitude.
The failure was the result of moral lassitude.

Examples of weary in a Sentence

Adjective I would remember the potential for return, all things circling as they do, into something like fullness, small moments of completion that weave together, like Penelope's cloth, doing and undoing themselves by turns, an unfinished pattern that guides a weary traveler home … — Paul Sorrell, Parabola, May 2000 But for the wilted weeds that managed to jut forth in wiry clumps where the mortar was cracked and washed away, the viaduct wall was barren of everything except the affirmation of a weary industrial city's prolonged and triumphant struggle to monumentalize its ugliness. — Philip Roth, American Pastoral, 1997 Every day for a week Ellsworth showed up to see Clarence and every day Miss Eunice and Mr. George Edward would exchange weary glances and shrugs … — Randall Kenan, Let the Dead Bury Their Dead, 1992 I need to rest my weary eyes. The miners were weary after a long shift. She was weary from years of housework. Verb What wearies me about Dickens, however, is his excessive use of words. — Will Manley, Booklist, 1 Nov. 2006 I doubted what Indonesia now had to offer and wearied of being new all over again. — Barack Obama, Dreams from My Father, (1995) 2004 Does it weary me to find some women of the next generation reinventing the wheel when it comes to planning their lives and dreaming of their romantic futures? — Margo Jefferson, New York Times Book Review, 15 Apr. 2001 The work wearies me sometimes. these constant complaints are really wearying me

Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective But, bogged down in the Middle East and Afghanistan, America has grown weary and inward-looking. — The Economist, "The new world disorder Global leadership is missing in action," 18 June 2020 Even a month of baseball would bring a little joy to this weary world. — Shawn Windsor, Detroit Free Press, "Taxpayers helped build MLB stadiums. Time for owners to return the favor and give us games in them," 17 June 2020 His illness will also likely embolden House Democrats who have been weary of forcing the House's more than 400 members to return to Washington. — Christal Hayes, USA TODAY, "Republican Rep. Tom Rice, and his wife and son, test positive for COVID-19," 16 June 2020 While holding the potential to save lives, such vaccines might lead to complacency in lockdown-weary nations, said Michael Kinch, a drug development expert who is associate vice chancellor at Washington University in St. Louis. — James Paton, Fortune, "The earliest coronavirus vaccines may not protect you from getting infected," 15 June 2020 Especially rugged adventures can trudge 250 unpaved miles north of Fairbanks on the Dalton Highway to the weary way-station of Coldfoot. — Brad Japhe, Travel + Leisure, "How to See Whales, Bears, Eagles and More Incredible Wildlife in Alaska," 14 June 2020 Students are growing weary of online instruction and long to see their teachers and classmates in person. — Ekemini Uwan, The Atlantic, "There’s No Going Back to ‘Normal’," 13 June 2020 While she has been accused of transphobia for years, many readers have become weary of continuing to support her books. — Gwen Aviles, NBC News, "'Harry Potter' alternatives: Trans-inclusive fantasy and sci-fi books," 10 June 2020 Others are weary of a seemingly endless cycle of deaths of black men at the hands of police, finally feeling that silence is no longer an option. — Marc Ramirez, Dallas News, "Protest sprouts in the suburbs of North Texas and beyond in wake of George Floyd’s killing," 8 June 2020 Recent Examples on the Web: Verb Yet the movie’s rare skirmishes feel authentically battle-wearied and handicapped by conscience. — Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times, "‘Robert the Bruce’ Review: The Return of the King," 23 Apr. 2020 How would 6% be for a start Several pages of this is charming; forty years’ worth would have been wearying. — Sheila Heti, The New Yorker, "Inside Tove Jansson’s Private Universe," 30 Mar. 2020 Unique pressures If the occasional flight is wearying, imagine the exhaustion of doing it for a living. — Natasha Frost, Quartz, "“A lot of us are suffering”: The dark side of the flight attendant lifestyle," 27 Feb. 2020 Freedom from responsibility, after all, is the fantasy of a world-wearied adult, not of a teenager, who longs for nothing more than to be trusted to make decisions for herself. — Ruth Franklin, The New York Review of Books, "L’Engle’s Cosmic Catechism," 25 Feb. 2020 While an understandable choice, the approach becomes wearying: A few more notes of sincerity would have better served the play. — Celia Wren, Washington Post, "Bravo for reviving the play that scandalized Jane Austen’s world," 11 Nov. 2019 Following that important thread through the next two hours was wearying, particularly once it was subsumed under questions about bathrooms. — Melissa Gira Grant, The New Republic, "Culture War in the Workplace," 13 Jan. 2020 Others face eviction threats from landlords who have wearied of the police showing up. — Anne Deprince, The Conversation, "Don’t make intimate violence victims look for help – research shows they fare better when police and community organizations coordinate assistance," 1 Nov. 2019 Chekhov, whose plays hardly seem to coerce life at all, boldly broke ranks with this wearying regimentation. — The New York Review of Books, "Giles Harvey," 23 May 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'weary.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.