fatigue
Americannoun
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weariness from bodily or mental exertion.
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a cause of weariness; slow ordeal; exertion.
the fatigue of driving for many hours.
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Physiology. temporary diminution of the irritability or functioning of organs, tissues, or cells after excessive exertion or stimulation.
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Civil Engineering. the weakening or breakdown of material subjected to stress, especially a repeated series of stresses.
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Also called fatigue duty. Military.
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labor of a generally nonmilitary kind done by soldiers, such as cleaning up an area, digging drainage ditches, or raking leaves.
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the state of being engaged in such labor.
on fatigue.
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Military. fatigues. see fatigues.
adjective
verb (used with object)
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fatigues,
present (3rd person singular)
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fatigued,
past participle, past
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fatiguing
present participle
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to weary with bodily or mental exertion; exhaust the strength of.
Endless chatter fatigues me.
- Synonyms:
- enervate, debilitate, tire
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Civil Engineering. to subject (a material) to fatigue.
verb (used without object)
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fatigues,
present (3rd person singular)
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fatigued,
past participle, past
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fatiguing
present participle
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to become tired or exhausted.
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Civil Engineering. (of a material) to undergo fatigue.
noun
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physical or mental exhaustion due to exertion
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a tiring activity or effort
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physiol the temporary inability of an organ or part to respond to a stimulus because of overactivity
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the progressive cracking of a material subjected to alternating stresses, esp vibrations
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the temporary inability to respond to a situation or perform a function, because of overexposure or overactivity
compassion fatigue
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any of the mainly domestic duties performed by military personnel, esp as a punishment
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( as modifier )
fatigue duties
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(plural) special clothing worn by military personnel to carry out such duties
verb
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to make or become weary or exhausted
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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
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antifatigueadjective
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fatigableadjective
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fatiguelessadjective
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unfatiguingadjective
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fatiguinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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fatiguesimple
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fatiguessimple
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have fatiguedperfect
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has fatiguedperfect
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am fatiguingprogressive
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are fatiguingprogressive
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is fatiguingprogressive
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have been fatiguingperfect progressive
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has been fatiguingperfect progressive
Past
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fatiguedsimple
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had fatiguedperfect
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was fatiguingprogressive
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were fatiguingprogressive
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had been fatiguingperfect progressive
Future
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.
Vocabulary lists containing fatigue
List 2
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Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" Speech (1963)
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A Long Walk to Water
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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.
See Examples For:
Everyone has AI fatigue, and it is too hard to say who wins, who loses and who might blow up.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 26, 2026
But as the hype waned and a Labubu fatigue set in, so too has the stock rally that catapulted Pop Mart’s market capitalization past $56 billion at the peak.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
It causes the number of red blood cells in the body to be reduced and leads to fatigue and shortness of breath.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
SOSO, or Singles Only Social Club, was born out of a growing desire among young professionals for in-person connections following the pandemic and years of dating app fatigue.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026
I made my way to the corridor and off the railroad car on legs weakened by more than fatigue and anger.
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson
Some people waiting in food lines say they miss the leadership of a man who bestrode the island in his trademark green military fatigues and whose memory still looms.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
In an abandoned luxury apartment in the Syrian capital Damascus, armed men dressed in military fatigues sifted through designer clothes and documents.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
Towards the end of last year, the Kremlin leader was on TV in military fatigues several times, oozing confidence, as he discussed the Ukraine war with his generals.
From BBC ● May 7, 2026
Dressed in olive green fatigues, Raúl Castro stood next to Díaz-Canel and a line of aged Cuban officials.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 14, 2026
A dangerously underweight corporal in threadbare fatigues comes for Werner on foot.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
“The End of Oak Street” has everything a viewer could want — especially a viewer fatigued by the Hollywood sequel system and all its shortcomings.
From Salon ● Aug. 20, 2026
Rescuers have brought in heavy machinery to help remove large sections of roofs and walls and are visibly fatigued after days of grueling work.
From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026
It remains to be seen if these strategies will work—some voters will be energized; others will become fatigued by it and lose interest.
From Slate ● Aug. 3, 2026
"I felt so under the weather, so fatigued and in so much pain."
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
She sighed, fatigued, and tucked a curl behind her ear.
From "Salt to the Sea" by Ruta Sepetys
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
Journeying to play against MLS rivals, on the other hand, would add to what is already one of the most arduous and fatiguing travel schedules of any first-division league in the world.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 6, 2024
Based in Norfolk and continuing to lose her sight she finds travelling fatiguing.
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2023
He learned that sandstoning was even more monotonous than sanding the drill, and far more fatiguing.
From "The Golden Goblet" by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
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.
