wear
verb (used with object)
to carry or have on the body or about the person as a covering, equipment, ornament, or the like.
wear
American
[wair]
/ wɛər /
verb (used with object)
-
wears,
present (3rd person singular)
-
wore,
past
-
worn,
past participle
-
wearing
present participle
-
to carry or have on the body or about the person as a covering, equipment, ornament, or the like.
to wear a coat;
to wear a saber;
to wear a disguise.
-
to have or use on the person habitually.
to wear a wig.
-
to bear or have in one's aspect or appearance.
to wear a smile;
to wear an air of triumph.
-
to cause (garments, linens, etc.) to deteriorate or change by wear.
Hard use has worn these gloves.
-
to impair, deteriorate, or consume gradually by use or any continued process.
Long illness had worn the bloom from her cheeks.
-
to waste or diminish gradually by rubbing, scraping, washing, etc..
The waves have worn these rocks.
-
to make (a hole, channel, way, etc.) by such action.
-
to bring about or cause a specified condition in (a person or thing) by use, deterioration, or gradual change.
You'll wear that outfit to rags if you don't take better care of it.
Years of hard labor had worn him to a shadow.
-
to weary; fatigue; exhaust.
Toil and care soon wear the spirit.
-
to pass (time) gradually or tediously (usually followed by away orout ).
We wore the afternoon away in arguing.
-
Nautical. to bring (a vessel) on another tack by turning until the wind is on the stern.
-
British Dialect. to gather and herd (sheep or cattle) to a pen or pasture.
verb (used without object)
-
wears,
present (3rd person singular)
-
wore,
past
-
worn,
past participle
-
wearing
present participle
-
to undergo gradual impairment, diminution, reduction, etc., from wear, use, attrition, or other causes (often followed by away, down, out, oroff ).
-
to retain shape, color, usefulness, value, etc., under wear, use, or any continued strain.
a strong material that will wear;
colors that wear well.
-
(of time) to pass, especially slowly or tediously (often followed by on oraway ).
As the day wore on, we had less and less to talk about.
-
to have the quality of being easy or difficult to tolerate, especially after a relatively long association.
It's hard to get to know him, but he wears well.
-
Nautical. (of a vessel) to come round on another tack by turning away from the wind.
-
Obsolete. to be commonly worn; to be in fashion.
noun
-
the act of wearing; use, as of a garment.
articles for winter wear;
I've had a lot of wear out of this coat.
I had to throw away the shirt after only three wears.
-
the state of being worn, as on the person.
-
clothing or other articles for wearing; especially when fashionable or appropriate for a particular function (often used in combination).
travel wear;
sportswear.
-
gradual impairment, wasting, diminution, etc., as from use.
The carpet shows wear.
-
the quality of resisting deterioration with use; durability.
verb phrase
idioms
wear
1
British
/ wɛə /
verb
-
(tr) to carry or have (a garment, etc) on one's person as clothing, ornament, etc
-
(tr) to carry or have on one's person habitually
she wears a lot of red
-
(tr) to have in one's aspect
to wear a smile
-
(tr) to display, show, or fly
a ship wears its colours
-
to deteriorate or cause to deteriorate by constant use or action
-
to produce or be produced by constant rubbing, scraping, etc
to wear a hole in one's trousers
-
to bring or be brought to a specified condition by constant use or action
to wear a tyre to shreds
-
(intr) to submit to constant use or action in a specified way
his suit wears well
-
(tr) to harass or weaken
-
(of time) to pass or be passed slowly
-
slang (tr) to accept
Larry won't wear that argument
-
to change the tack of a sailing vessel, esp a square-rigger, by coming about so that the wind passes astern
noun
-
the act of wearing or state of being worn
-
-
anything designed to be worn
leisure wear
-
( in combination )
nightwear
-
-
deterioration from constant or normal use or action
-
the quality of resisting the effects of constant use
Wear
2
British
/ wɪə /
noun
wear
3
British
/ wɛə /
verb
wear
More Idioms
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
wearsimple
-
wearssimple
-
have wornperfect
-
has wornperfect
-
am wearingprogressive
-
are wearingprogressive
-
is wearingprogressive
-
have been wearingperfect progressive
-
has been wearingperfect progressive
Past
-
woresimple
-
had wornperfect
-
was wearingprogressive
-
were wearingprogressive
-
had been wearingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of wear
First recorded before 900; (verb) Middle English weren “to have (clothes) on the body, waste, damage, suffer waste or damage,” Old English werian; cognate with Old Norse verja, Gothic wasjan “to clothe”; (noun) late Middle English were “act of carrying on the body,” derivative of the verb; akin to Latin vestis clothing ( see vest)
Explanation
To wear means to clothe, or be covered by. You wear suits to interviews and sweats to the gym. Wear is used to talk about the things we wear on our body, like clothes or jewelry. We even say that people wear their feelings. If someone tells you you’re wearing your heart on your sleeve, it’s totally obvious what you’re feeling. We also use wear to talk about deterioration over time. If you walk a lot, you will wear out your shoes faster. If you chatter on and on, your listener’s patience will wear thin.
Vocabulary lists containing wear
"The Road Not Taken"
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Spelling Practice, Unit 3
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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:
Now it has to convince people to wear them.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 26, 2026
He doesn’t do effusive—not in his words, and, on Thursday night, not in what he chose to wear.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
But he would expect the "novelty to soon wear off", and would be "surprised" if many people returned to place more than about 10 imaginary orders.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
The agent who shot Garces Perez had been instructed to wear a body camera but wasn’t, which could make even an impartial investigation harder.
From Slate ● Sep. 23, 2026
Nurse Yasunaga took Sadako to one of the hospital rooms and gave her a kind of cotton kimono to wear.
From "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes" by Eleanor Coerr
She has also held roles at Women's Wear Daily and the Daily Beast.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
On a cold November morning, designer Isaac Mizrahi gets up, leaves his apartment, and trudges to the corner newsstand to pick up a copy of Women’s Wear Daily.
From Salon ● Sep. 5, 2026
During a recent interview with the magazine Women's Wear Daily, she revealed she wear tests all of the products herself and often creates items she wishes she already had in her make-up bag.
From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026
Reed wrote for many publications in the ensuing years, including Vogue, Esquire, GQ and Women’s Wear Daily, before landing at the New York Observer when it was founded as a print weekly in 1987.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 12, 2026
Wear the new blue dress because he meant to marry her right from the train.
From "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston
Tisch, who is Jewish and wears a Star of David necklace, has spoken passionately about the NYPD’s role in protecting Jewish communities and driving down antisemitic crime.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
And no one in the latter series wears a mustache.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2026
"For a large chunk of the film's runtime, the answer is a resounding yes," wrote reviewer Jordan Bassett, who said Bryan's encounters become repetitive as the film wears on.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
Today he is 79, and wears the calamities of the past more lightly than most of us could ever imagine.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
It’s the same look Mom wears when her concern for me is paired with defeat.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
Local journalist Miguel Dantas explained the security arrangements were scaled back compared with the first trial, when he wore a bulletproof jacket and there were snipers on the roof.
From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2026
Ali wore the red sequin chador in 15 cities, including at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris in 2015, where, during a 12-hour performance, she threatened to chop off 99 baguettes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
Trump, in a tuxedo, and the first lady, in black formal pants and a white shirt with an oversize white bow, welcomed the Chinese leader and his wife Peng Liyuan, who wore a red gown.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
Others have embraced it: Hailey Bieber wore the label with pride when she sported a white crop top emblazoned with “nepo baby” in 2023.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026
Men and women wore pins that said Legendary Grandparent next to their name and escorted other confused teens around.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
“The Buddhist Bug” was created in 2011, a few years before “The Red Chador,” and inspired by the pervasiveness of the saffron-colored robes worn by monks in Cambodia.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
And that day, Erika was too worn out and too upset to be patient anymore.
From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026
At this year’s Met Gala, a version of that 2016 bubble dress—called “Seijaku,” which means “serenity”—was worn by the Olympic freestyle skier Eileen Gu.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026
Barcelona did not take part in the initiative, while players at other La Liga fixtures had worn the shirts as intended.
From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026
Jogging across an old highway with faded paint marking the lanes, you notice a worn sign straight ahead.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
It was good to see the Rams celebrate their early L.A. history by wearing gold jerseys and by giving the SoFi fans 1951 championship towels.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 26, 2026
They also showed her a photo of a portrait of Beata’s second-eldest son, Jacobus Johannes Christoffel, nicknamed Cootje, wearing a green jacket and holding a cane.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2026
Everyone looks like they’re wearing suits from Temu.
From Slate ● Sep. 26, 2026
That said, some people quietly told me they would not be confident enough to approach someone wearing them even if they did spot them, for fear of the interaction being filmed and uploaded.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026
The day in and day out of needle pricks, scalds, and raw-skinned hands from cooking and scrubbing was wearing on me.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
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.
