stressed-out

American  

[strest-out] / ˈstrɛstˈaʊt /

adjective

1. afflicted with or incapacitated by stress.

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Usage

What does stressed-out mean? Stressed-out means experiencing a lot of emotional stress. The adjective stressed can mean the same thing. Both terms often imply that the level of stress is intense or higher than usual—that stress has built up and is becoming hard to deal with. The phrasal verb stress out can mean to experience stress, as in Don’t stress out about the meeting—it’s not a big deal. It can also mean to cause someone to experience stress, as in You’re really stressing me out. The term stressed-out comes from the past tense of this sense: someone who is stressed-out has been stressed out by someone or something (or, as is often the case, by a combination of different factors). Stressed-out is commonly spelled without a hyphen, as stressed out. Example: During the week of final exams, the library is filled with stressed-out students frantically trying to study.

Example Sentences

“It’s a smallish club and it does get really cliquey,” said Pamela Andres, a former general manager at SYC who quit in 2022, stressed out over member misbehavior.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 28, 2026

I don’t think I would have been able to do 500 acquisitions or raise over $50 billion if I had been super stressed out and not thinking clearly.

From MarketWatch • May 6, 2026

Anderson wasn’t really stressed out over the Hall of Fame premise, just kind of fascinated.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 19, 2026

"The first time I did it, I rushed back and I was overweight and not happy - and just very stressed out," she said.

From BBC • Jun. 11, 2025

“Juniper,” Annabeth said, “Grover would never even look at another tree. He’s just stressed out about his searcher’s license.”

From "The Battle of the Labyrinth" by Rick Riordan