WEAR OUT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does wear out mean? 

• WEAR OUT (verb)
  The verb WEAR OUT has 3 senses:

1. exhaust or get tired through overuse or great strain or stress

2. go to pieces

3. deteriorate through use or stress

  Familiarity information: WEAR OUT used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WEAR OUT (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Exhaust or get tired through overuse or great strain or stress

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

fag; fag out; fatigue; jade; outwear; tire; tire out; wear; wear down; wear out; wear upon; weary

Context example:

We wore ourselves out on this hike

Hypernyms (to "wear out" is one way to...):

indispose (cause to feel unwell)

Cause:

fatigue; jade; pall; tire; weary (lose interest or become bored with something or somebody)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "wear out"):

beat; exhaust; tucker; tucker out; wash up (wear out completely)

overfatigue; overtire; overweary (tire excessively)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

Sam cannot wear out Sue

Sense 2

Meaning:

Go to pieces

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

break; bust; fall apart; wear; wear out

Context example:

The old chair finally fell apart completely

Hypernyms (to "wear out" is one way to...):

crumble; decay; dilapidate (fall into decay or ruin)

Verb group:

break; bust (ruin completely)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "wear out"):

fray; frazzle (wear away by rubbing)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sense 3

Meaning:

Deteriorate through use or stress

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

wear; wear down; wear off; wear out; wear thin

Context example:

The constant friction wore out the cloth

Hypernyms (to "wear out" is one way to...):

deteriorate (become worse or disintegrate)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "wear out"):

ablate (wear away through erosion or vaporization)

scuff (get or become scuffed)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

 Context examples 

Nor did that day wear out her resentment.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

All you have to do is just to wear out your chair in the consulting-room.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And her clothes, they will wear out: how can she get new ones?

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I suppose no time can ever wear out the impression I have of his looks and voice as he said those words.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

"They would be just the thing to take a long walk in, for they could not wear out."

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

The malady will wear out by and by, the doctors say, but in the meantime she has to lie down for a twelvemonth.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Besides, I considered that my clothes and shoes would soon wear out, which already were in a declining condition, and must be supplied by some contrivance from the hides of Yahoos, or other brutes; whereby the whole secret would be known.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

When I was first married, I used to long for my new clothes to wear out or get torn, so that I might have the pleasure of mending them, for I got heartily sick of doing fancywork and tending my pocket handkerchief.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

But if there is a time when you are not meeting grand people, you can wear out your country things, for your brown coat is as good as new, and the blue one, if it were ironed and relined, would take you through the summer.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

All this my master very graciously consented to; and thus the secret was kept till my clothes began to wear out, which I was forced to supply by several contrivances that shall hereafter be mentioned.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)