weary

1 of 2

adjective

wea·ry ˈwir-ē

wearier; weariest

Synonyms of weary next

: exhausted in strength, endurance, vigor, or freshness

: expressing or characteristic of weariness

a weary sign

: having one's patience, tolerance, or pleasure exhausted

—used with of

soon grew weary of waiting

: wearisome

wearily

ˈwir-ə-lē

adverb

weariness

ˈwir-ē-nəs

noun

weary

2 of 2

verb

wearied; wearying

intransitive verb

: to become weary

transitive verb

: to make weary

Did you know?

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.

Choose the Right Synonym for weary

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

Example Sentences

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 See More

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

On Sunday, residents weary from the monthlong battle against rising water were preparing to be marooned. —

Ian James, Los Angeles Times, 19 Mar. 2023 The color red has age-old cred: In Colonial times, a red front door indicated weary travelers were welcome to spend the night. —

Erin Cavoto, Country Living, 19 Mar. 2023 Every night my eyes grow weary and my passive consciousness arrives in that ethereal realm without a lick of agency. —

WIRED, 14 Mar. 2023 Workers in the two largest economies—United States and China—are growing weary. —

Jack Kelly, Forbes, 23 Feb. 2023 Biden’s visit has been viewed as an important morale boost to troops weary from almost 365 days of near-continuous combat. —

Christiaan Hetzner, Fortune, 21 Feb. 2023 While likely weary from 23 saves in the 6-5 shootout loss, the Blue Jackets didn’t pepper Ingram with many chances early on. —

Jenna Ortiz, The Arizona Republic, 20 Feb. 2023 The reaction follows a pattern of which Jordanians have grown weary: The government addresses security concerns with an urgency that’s not granted to other crises felt by the public. —

Sarah Dadouch, Washington Post, 23 Dec. 2022 Along with Ivey, Duren gave Pistons fans weary from losing more reasons to be excited for the future. —

Detroit Free Press, 21 Dec. 2022

Verb

Yet the movie’s rare skirmishes feel authentically battle-wearied and handicapped by conscience. —

Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times, 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, 30 Mar. 2020 Unique pressures If the occasional flight is wearying, imagine the exhaustion of doing it for a living. —

Natasha Frost, Quartz, 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, 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, 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, 13 Jan. 2020 Others face eviction threats from landlords who have wearied of the police showing up. —

Anne Deprince, The Conversation, 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, 23 May 2019 See More

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.