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

• break
• burn out
• bust
• do in
• do up
• drain
• exhaust
• fag
• fatigue
• frazzle
• harass
• kill
• knock out
• outwear
• tire
• tucker (out)
• wash out
• wear
• weary

Examples of wear out in a Sentence

keeping up with twin toddlers wears me out

Recent Examples on the Web

Pictures released by the Nigerian military showed the children looking worn out as they were covered in dust, still wearing their blue-white-and-brown uniforms while being transported following their release. —Chinedu Asadu, The Christian Science Monitor, 25 Mar. 2024

Solving murders regularly wears out our culture’s best gumshoes: Think of bedraggled Sergeant Catherine Cawood of Happy Valley, or Henning Mankell’s series about the Swedish inspector Kurt Wallander, who even brews coffee with an air of quiet desperation. —Hillary Kelly, The Atlantic, 11 Mar. 2024

Paul has been known to wear out in a protracted postseason, and that won’t be the case this year. —Jerry McDonald, The Mercury News, 2 Mar. 2024

For pieces that are worn out, cut them up and use them for rags, or look for clothing recycling options near you. —Abby Ferguson, Popular Science, 28 Feb. 2024

What to Consider The pants look more definitively like loungewear than the top, and may be too casual to wear out and about. —Sophie Dodd, Travel + Leisure, 8 Jan. 2024

Birders will wear out their binoculars scanning for the dozens of species found at the park including meadowlark, summer tanager, northern shoveler and wood duck. —Roger Naylor, The Arizona Republic, 7 Mar. 2024

These all work together to refresh, restore, and revive worn out hands. —Stixx Matthews, Essence, 20 Feb. 2024

This approach develops employees and also prevents them from wearing out their welcome. —Liz Kislik, Forbes, 17 Feb. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

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

Kids Definition

wear out

verb

1

: to tire gradually

worn out from exercising

2

: to make or become useless by wear