wear and tear

American  

[tair] / tɛər /

Or wear-and-tear

noun

1. damage or deterioration resulting from ordinary use; normal depreciation.

---

wear and tear British  

noun

1. damage, depreciation, or loss resulting from ordinary use

---

wear and tear Idioms  

1. Damage and deterioration resulting from ordinary use and exposure, as in This sofa shows a lot of wear and tear; we should replace it. [Second half of 1600s]

---

Etymology

Origin of wear and tear

First recorded in 1660–70

Example Sentences

The wear and tear of an intense road trip in which the first five games all came down to the final minutes didn’t faze Doncic.

From Los Angeles Times

“There’s going to be wear and tear on the Navy that’s going to be difficult to recover from very quickly,” said Thomas Shugart, an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.

From The Wall Street Journal

This is why describing osteoarthritis as simple "wear and tear" is misleading.

From Science Daily

Coal plants, which can’t easily shut down and restart, either operate at a loss during those hours or ramp down to levels that are inefficient and cause mechanical wear and tear, Dorris said.

From The Wall Street Journal

The supplements may also ease wear and tear, arthritis joint pain and stiffness, according to the results from 113 trials involving nearly 8,000 people.

From BBC

Related Words

• depletion
• depreciation
• erosion