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

Then the beeps will become evenly spaced until the alarm is silenced, the prongs dry out, or the battery wears out. — John R. Delaney, PC Magazine, 19 Oct. 2026

Weak link Assuming a longer time horizon is required for returns on AI capital, the neocloud sector could be the weak link in the AI value chain, especially because its equipment wears out and needs to be replaced so often. — Tobias Burns, CNBC, 15 Oct. 2026

These reactions require a lot of energy, which can reduce the efficiency of zinc-air batteries and cause their materials to wear out faster. — Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 15 Oct. 2026

Before the constant stream of sarcastic Ultron commentary wears out its welcome around the series’ halfway point, the bad guy’s brevity is a nice counterpoint to all of the sentient ennui. — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 12 Oct. 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