washed-up
22
6.5
- adjective
- /ˈwɔʃt ʌp/
- Offensive
- It's sad to see him as a washed-up musician, no longer performing to sold-out crowds.
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Watch on YouTubeWhat, you and I overpacking like a couple of washed up old drag Queens?
- What, you and I overpacking like a couple of washed up old drag Queens?
- Occasionally I get twinges of like am IA washed up one hit wonder sitcom actor and has Hollywood cast me away?
- What do you do as a fucking washed up Navy SEAL CIA guy?
Examples
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The mildly despicable Pat Hobby is washed up, an ineffectual relic of the silent-film days, hanging on by a thread.
Academic text (2000) -
A Love Song for Bobby Long (2004) divides the stereotype a different way, with John Travolta as the washed-up, alcoholic English professor and Gabriel Macht as the blocked, alcoholic writer.
Academic text (2007) -
Old is one thing, but this poor fellow, whoever he is, looks pretty much washed up.
Fiction book (2001) -
A lawyer and a washed-up baseball player.
-
Jeter is going to be the man until he clearly is washed up in the last 3 years.
Blog text (24) -
But the fact is I'm washed up, as the Yanks say.
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Birdie was a washed-up model.
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If people aren't coming to your shows, it's because you're washed up.
-
Hanks stars as Jimmy Dugan, a washed-up ballplayer whose big league days are over.
Blog text (4) -
The Post interview marked perhaps the lowest point he reached in the decade, but it fixed his image as a washed-up, self-pitying writer, a miserable caretaker of his talent, the relic of a distant and unlamented era.
Academic text (2000)
Synonyms
11
6.5
No longer fashionable or useful
5
7.9
Too old to be as useful or attractive as before
1
9.9
Old and no longer useful because of age
No longer effective or popular
Certain to fail and unable to recover
Antonyms
How Successful
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Washed-up comes from the image of things the sea washes up onto the shore, often leaving them broken or useless. So calling someone washed-up means they are 'no longer successful' or 'past their best'.