Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
clapped out

clapped out

1 8.6
Very tired or worn and not able to work well
  • idiom
  • UK
translation icon : agotado
  • Her old bicycle was so clapped out that it barely worked anymore.

Examples

  • We're gonna have a bunch of clapped-out old hippies blissing on the Grateful Dead!

    Fiction book (1995)

  • The phrase used by Andrew Neil, editor of The Sunday Times, is "clapped-out," a historical aberration in what Leslie Fiedler calls "the Americanization of the world."

    Academic text (1990)

  • We were soon on country gravel roads, Johnnie calling lefts and rights, even though all the roads looked the same to me: just wheel ruts running between clapped-out cornfields.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • I make an honest effort to maintain a neutral opinion when it comes to cops, but when I see one driving a car, they register as a genuine hazard, right up there with cellphone-gabbing soccer moms in SUVs, boy racers in clapped-out Civics, and little kids chasing their beach balls out onto the street.

    Blog text (12)

  • After years of heavy use, the printer became completely clapped out and needed to be replaced.

  • He felt completely clapped out after working non-stop for three days without sleep.

Synonyms

broken-down
vsclapped out
24 4.4

In very poor condition and not working because of age or neglect

is informal and emphasizes heavy use or age rather than neglect
worn-out
vsclapped out
20 3.1

An object too old or damaged from heavy use to be useful

is informal and often used for vehicles, machines, or people
played out
vsclapped out
  • Informal
10 6.7

Very tired or no longer interesting because people use it too much

applies more to items failing physically from age or heavy use
worn
vsclapped out
4 2.1

Damaged and showing signs of long use

describes full failure from age or heavy use rather than mere wear
knocked-out
vsclapped out
  • Informal
1 6.8

Damaged and worn so it no longer works well

is informal and focuses on age or heavy use rather than impact
outworn
vsclapped out
5.2

An object that has been used a lot and is now damaged or not useful

is informal and used especially for vehicles, machines, or people
raddled
vsclapped out
  • UK
9.9

Worn and in bad condition from long use

focuses on being worn out and unable to function properly from use
overworn
vsclapped out
6.2

Used so much that it looks old or no longer works well

refers to heavy wear that makes things stop working, not just look old

Antonyms

new
∞ 1.0

In original condition and never used before

functional
81 3.2

Working correctly so it can be used

How Worn

broken
31 1.0
clapped out
  • UK
1 8.6
worn
4 2.1
used
1.0
new
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

clapped out positive

Morphology

clapped + out

The adjective 'clapped out' uses 'clapped', which is not transparently related to wear or failure (it looks like the past participle of 'clap' meaning to strike with the hands), so a learner who only knows the literal constituents would not infer the idiomatic sense. Although 'out' can signal cessation or being finished, that particle alone is insufficient to make the overall meaning ('worn out, no longer functioning') predictable. This is an informal, regionally used idiom, so its meaning is not compositionally derived and would be opaque to a B1 learner.

Etymology

Clapped out may come from the picture of old cars or machines whose loose parts made a sharp 'clap' as they hit each other when they were breaking down. When those machines finally stopped, they were clapped out, so the phrase now means 'worn out' or no longer able to work.