to wear out
65
2.7
- phrasal verb
- /wɛr aʊt/
- The power is the type of no-nonsense play that can wear out a smaller defense.
- wear out their welcome
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Watch on YouTubeThat can mean that our immune response wears out.
- That can mean that our immune response wears out.
Examples
-
"I can see I'm wearing you out," the reporter said finally.
Fiction book (1994) -
And she has to do this not only to protect herself because she knows that if she has children too often she wears out her body.
-
Maybe I should have tried harder, but I also know that trying wears out love more than anything else.
Fiction book (1999) -
I don't know about little boys, but girls will wear you out.
Fiction book (1990) -
We'd all like it to, maybe... ...but maybe it just wears out like everything else.
-
They'll use you till you wear out or you break down, or you're buried under a slate fall, and then they'll get a new one.
-
After a long day at work, all the tasks and meetings really wore me out by the evening.
-
The intense workout had the trainer worried that he might wear out his athletes before the competition.
-
If you continue to push yourself without rest, you will eventually wear out and won't be able to perform.
Synonyms
177
4.6
Make someone tired over time because of stress or effort
108
3.4
To slowly use up energy, money, or other resources
62
4.1
Slowly make a person or thing weaker by repeated pressure
38
1.0
To become very tired or make someone very tired
24
2.1
To make a person very tired by using up their energy
21
3.2
To make someone very tired
8
7.7
To make someone very tired
4
9.4
To make someone very tired
4
4.4
To make someone or yourself very tired after long effort
4
4.6
To make someone very tired by hard work or long effort
3
4.8
Make someone feel very weak and tired
1
9.9
To work very hard until you feel tired
1
8.1
To make someone tired or bored by doing something too often
1
6.8
To make someone very tired by doing too much
1
7.0
Make someone tired over time from too much work or stress
1
8.3
To make someone very tired by long, hard effort
1
9.9
To make someone very tired by hard work or hardship
To make someone very tired so they cannot work or think well
To make someone very tired by doing too much without rest
To make someone very sleepy from too much activity
Antonyms
How Tired
Surface Forms
Morphology
wear + out
The meaning 'to make very tired / to use until no longer able to function' follows directly from 'wear' (to be worn down by use) combined with the particle 'out' signaling completion or extent, so learners who know the parts can often infer the sense for objects. However, the extension to causing a person to become exhausted is somewhat metaphorical rather than strictly literal, so the relation is only partially predictable without prior exposure.
Etymology
Wear out shows the idea of using up a person's energy until they cannot go on. Imagine carrying a heavy bag all day or a child playing without stopping; the activity slowly wears you down, and the parts wear meaning 'use' and out meaning 'completely' explain why it means 'to make someone very tired'.