burned-out
Americanadjective
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rendered unserviceable or ineffectual by maximum use; consumed.
Check your outdoor lights and replace any burned-out bulbs.
-
exhausted or made listless through overwork, stress, or intemperance.
-
deprived of one's regular place to live, work, etc., by a destructive fire.
Etymology
Origin of burned-out
First recorded in 1805–15
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.
Footage analysed by BBC Verify and online by GeoConfirmed open source analysts shows burned-out shells of container lorries and other military vehicles at multiple locations along a key route through southern Ukraine.
From BBC • May 30, 2026
After The Times asked about where he was living, Pratt posted a video saying he had placed an Airstream trailer on his burned-out lot in the Palisades.
From Los Angeles Times • May 22, 2026
Pratt added that his burned-out lot is still his legal residence and that he recently moved an Airstream trailer to the Palisades lot where he now plans to live.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 6, 2026
Not far from the gate are the hulks of two burned-out cars.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 19, 2026
Below them the streets were frill of burned-out cars squeezed together between the looming walls.
From "Uglies" by Scott Westerfeld
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
