overwear

American  

[oh-ver-wair] / ˌoʊ vərˈwɛər /

verb (used with object)

overwore, overworn, overwearing

1. to use or wear excessively; wear out; exhaust; tax.

   needlessly overwearing her best workers; phrases overworn by repetition.

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Etymology

Origin of overwear

First recorded in 1570–80; over- + wear

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

overwear overworn

He lumbered between courtrooms with his cane and black leather bag, in a black suit he insisted on always wearing until he was acquitted, the jacket shiny in places from overwear.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2021

I have also with him leggings of heavier cloth for overwear.

From The first New Testament printed in English by

We were thin, with faces burned, withered, frozen and torn in fissures, with clothes ugly from overwear.

From My Attainment of the Pole by Frederick A. Cook

Where lines like “don’t give up; don’t stop believing; keep the faith” can transform from overworn platitudes into a chant of quiet confidence and inflate the listener’s heart like the Grinch on Christmas.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2025

But for British dramas fictional cops cannot get away from the cheaper and often overworn suits favoured by their non-fictional contemporaries.

From The Guardian ● Jun. 8, 2013

The terms Romantic and Classic are perhaps something overworn; and, although they are useful to supply a reason, it may well be doubted whether they ever helped any one to an understanding.

From Milton by Sir Walter Alexander Raleigh

All conversation is political; every man is a battery, with brushes overworn, and gives out blue sparks when you set him going on the common topic.

From The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg and Other Stories by Mark Twain

I had overworn myself, and that sustaining surface which hides from us in our health the abysses below the mind--I felt it growing weak and thin.

From The Path to Rome by Hilaire Belloc

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