- past participle of outwear.
outworn
Americanadjective
-
out-of-date, outmoded, or obsolete.
outworn ideas; outworn methods.
-
worn-out, as clothes.
-
exhausted in strength or endurance, as persons.
verb
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of outworn
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“Only old, outworn notions stand in the way of these ideas.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 2, 2026
Setting recent works among older ones is an effective element of LACMA’s overall plan to shed outworn hierarchies.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 22, 2026
Could I remount the river of my years To the first fountain of our smiles and tears I would not trace again its stream of hours Between its outworn banks of withered flowers.
From Salon ● Dec. 25, 2021
That “hacky, grinding, stinking, outworn, spaceship yarn,” as science fiction author Wilson Tucker memorably put it when he coined the term in 1941.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 17, 2021
And as I undressed I saw my outworn clothes and realized that I'd have to shed them.
From "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
