fatigue

American  

[fuh-teeg] / fəˈtig /

noun

1. weariness from bodily or mental exertion.

2. a cause of weariness; slow ordeal; exertion.

   the fatigue of driving for many hours.

3. Physiology. temporary diminution of the irritability or functioning of organs, tissues, or cells after excessive exertion or stimulation.

4. Civil Engineering. the weakening or breakdown of material subjected to stress, especially a repeated series of stresses.

5. Also called fatigue duty.  Military.

   1. labor of a generally nonmilitary kind done by soldiers, such as cleaning up an area, digging drainage ditches, or raking leaves.

   2. the state of being engaged in such labor.

      on fatigue.

6. Military. fatigues. see fatigues.

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adjective

1. of or relating to fatigues or any clothing made to resemble them.

   The guerrilla band wore fatigue pants and field jackets.

   She brought fatigue shorts to wear on the hike.

verb (used with object)

fatigues, present (3rd person singular) fatigued, past participle, past fatiguing present participle

1. to weary with bodily or mental exertion; exhaust the strength of.

   Endless chatter fatigues me.

   Synonyms:

   enervate, debilitate, tire

2. Civil Engineering. to subject (a material) to fatigue.

verb (used without object)

fatigues, present (3rd person singular) fatigued, past participle, past fatiguing present participle

1. to become tired or exhausted.

2. Civil Engineering. (of a material) to undergo fatigue.

fatigue British  

/ ˈfætɪɡəbəl, fəˈtiːɡ /

noun

1. physical or mental exhaustion due to exertion

2. a tiring activity or effort

3. physiol the temporary inability of an organ or part to respond to a stimulus because of overactivity

4. the progressive cracking of a material subjected to alternating stresses, esp vibrations

5. the temporary inability to respond to a situation or perform a function, because of overexposure or overactivity

   compassion fatigue

6. 1. any of the mainly domestic duties performed by military personnel, esp as a punishment

   2. ( as modifier )

      fatigue duties

7. (plural) special clothing worn by military personnel to carry out such duties

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verb

1. to make or become weary or exhausted

2. to crack or break (a material or part) by inducing fluctuating stresses in it, or (of a metal or part) to become weakened or fail as a result of fluctuating stresses

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• antifatigue
  adjective
• fatigable
  adjective
• fatigueless
  adjective
• unfatiguing
  adjective
• fatiguingly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Participles

• fatiguing
  present
• fatigued
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• fatigue
  simple
• fatigues
  simple
• have fatigued
  perfect
• has fatigued
  perfect
• am fatiguing
  progressive
• are fatiguing
  progressive
• is fatiguing
  progressive
• have been fatiguing
  perfect progressive
• has been fatiguing
  perfect progressive

Past

• fatigued
  simple
• had fatigued
  perfect
• was fatiguing
  progressive
• were fatiguing
  progressive
• had been fatiguing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will fatigue
  simple
• will have fatigued
  perfect
• will be fatiguing
  progressive
• will have been fatiguing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of fatigue

First recorded in 1685–95; from French verb fatiguer, from Latin fatīgāre “to tire”; noun derived from the verb

Explanation

Swimming and playing volleyball at the beach can make you tired and pleasantly wiped out, but long hours filling and emptying a wheelbarrow of dirt on a hot day brings fatigue, a far more draining kind of exhaustion. There is a noticeable difference between tiredness and fatigue. You can read a magazine or book before bed and get tired after a while, but if you work on math problems on a computer for a long time, you'll feel fatigue in your eyes, and maybe your brain will start to hurt. The Latin fatīgāre means to "tire out," "to fill to excess or to bursting." Even thinking about the Latin for fatigue brings some mental fatigue.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fatigue fatigues fatigued fatiguing

A borrowing binge this year for big tech companies is giving debt investors fatigue and pushing up the cost of capital across the industry.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026

“What triggers us to sell a stock is seeing fatigue in the fundamental growth profile. You don’t overstay your welcome.”

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026

For camels this means when heat stress sets in, their metabolism slows down to limit internal heat production leading to sharp reduction in food intake resulting in lethargy and generalised fatigue.

From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026

Poop jokes and memes aside, cyclosporiasis is a serious parasitic foodborne intestinal illness whose symptoms include nausea, fatigue, and explosive diarrhea that can last weeks or even months without antibiotic treatment.

From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2026

It was possible that a delayed-onset case of holiday fatigue was finally catching up with the usually plucky young governess.

From "The Hidden Gallery" by Maryrose Wood

Meeting in Ankara with Sharaa, who has traded his guerrilla fatigues for a suit, Trump said, "He's doing an unbelievable job in unifying Syria. What a job he's doing."

From Barron's ● Jul. 8, 2026

Unlike he so often did in the months leading up to the US military intervention, Cabello was not wearing military fatigues.

From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026

TV footage showed police commandos in fatigues entering the Senate building in Manila early on Wednesday evening, with anti-riot policemen with shields and helmets surrounding the perimeter.

From BBC ● May 13, 2026

Outside, the streets of Islamabad are flooded with armed security personnel in military fatigues, traffic diversions and police checkpoints.

From Barron's ● Apr. 10, 2026

I half hid behind a coconut palm and watched as truck after truck, filled with men wearing fatigues, roared past me.

From "The Red Umbrella" by Christina Gonzalez

"I felt so under the weather, so fatigued and in so much pain."

From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026

During his barely six months in the post, Fedorov repeatedly clashed with the army's top commander in his efforts to digitise and modernise an army fatigued after four years fighting off the Russian invasion.

From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026

Fast food chains have struggled for years to win back consumers fatigued with rising prices and unexciting menus—and then there’s Taco Bell.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026

Mice with blocked neuron activity became fatigued much sooner and failed to gain endurance during the two-week training period.

From Science Daily ● May 16, 2026

In the sconces’ flickering light, he noted Kamau looked even more fatigued than usual.

From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray

Describing the impact of the bombardment, one Tehran resident said that the constant "sound of ongoing blasts is fatiguing" and energy sapping.

From BBC ● Mar. 6, 2026

To compensate, he encourages in-person discussions; failing that, video beats text, even if video meetings are fatiguing and can blunt creativity.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2025

Using this type of control, the researchers found that muscles could be stimulated for more than an hour before fatiguing, while muscles became fatigued after only 15 minutes using FES stimulation.

From Science Daily ● May 22, 2024

There is a relentless, inescapable and, sometimes fatiguing quality to this Swift-Kelce monocultural vortex.

From New York Times ● Feb. 8, 2024

Anyone with half an eye could see the posture was fatiguing to the point of exhaustion.

From "Cheaper by the Dozen" by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey

Related Words

• disable
• exhaust
• jade
• weaken