exhausted
Americanadjective
Synonym Usage
See tired 1.
Etymology
Origin of exhausted
First recorded in 1660–70; exhaust ( def. ) + -ed 2 ( def. )
Explanation
Up too late studying? Want nothing more than to get a little bit of sleep? Sounds like you're exhausted — all of your energy has been used up. Exhausted is spent, drained, and depleted. Though you might associate the word exhausted with people, it's a word that can be used to talk about anything that's depleted. You might want to continue traveling around Europe, but if your funds are exhausted, it's time to go home. If you're trying to get in touch with the airline so you can make a reservation for your homeward-bound trip, your patience may become exhausted after being placed on hold for hours.
Vocabulary lists containing exhausted
Excerpt from "Flipped"
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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Messenger
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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.
As exhausted as Gibney may be with the subject, he can’t entirely rule out “Musk 2.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
Samms is mentally exhausted by not knowing whether he will be able to afford the new rate every time his lease is up.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026
In diligent, exhausted Japan, self-described elite "competitive sleepers" vied to lie down, relax and nap the fastest and deepest in a contest organised by a mattress company.
From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026
Social media, however, is flooded with memes of exhausted parents calmly negotiating with a child having a supermarket meltdown, something Ockwell-Smith finds deeply frustrating.
From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2026
The poor workmen look exhausted, and I’ve heard that some of them have come down with rheumatism.
From "The (Mostly) True Story of Cleopatra's Needle" by Dan Gutman
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.
