Jump To:

• wear
  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
  Wear

  noun

  a river in NE England, rising in NW Durham and flowing southeast then northeast to the North Sea at Sunderland. Length: 105 km (65 miles)

wear

American  

[wair] / wɛər /

verb (used with object)

• wears,
  present (3rd person singular)
• wore,
  past
• worn,
  past participle
• wearing
  present participle

1. 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.

2. to have or use on the person habitually.

   to wear a wig.

3. to bear or have in one's aspect or appearance.

   to wear a smile;

   to wear an air of triumph.

4. to cause (garments, linens, etc.) to deteriorate or change by wear.

   Hard use has worn these gloves.

5. to impair, deteriorate, or consume gradually by use or any continued process.

   Long illness had worn the bloom from her cheeks.

6. to waste or diminish gradually by rubbing, scraping, washing, etc..

   The waves have worn these rocks.

7. to make (a hole, channel, way, etc.) by such action.

8. 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.

9. to weary; fatigue; exhaust.

   Toil and care soon wear the spirit.

10. to pass (time) gradually or tediously (usually followed by away orout ).

    We wore the afternoon away in arguing.

11. Nautical. to bring (a vessel) on another tack by turning until the wind is on the stern.

12. 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

1. to undergo gradual impairment, diminution, reduction, etc., from wear, use, attrition, or other causes (often followed by away, down, out, oroff ).

2. to retain shape, color, usefulness, value, etc., under wear, use, or any continued strain.

   a strong material that will wear;

   colors that wear well.

3. (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.

4. 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.

5. Nautical. (of a vessel) to come round on another tack by turning away from the wind.

6. Obsolete. to be commonly worn; to be in fashion.

noun

1. 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.

2. the state of being worn, as on the person.

3. clothing or other articles for wearing; especially when fashionable or appropriate for a particular function (often used in combination).

   travel wear;

   sportswear.

4. gradual impairment, wasting, diminution, etc., as from use.

   The carpet shows wear.

5. the quality of resisting deterioration with use; durability.

verb phrase

1. wear out. see wear out.

2. wear off to diminish slowly or gradually or to diminish in effect; disappear.

   The drug began to wear off.

3. wear down

   1. to reduce or impair by long wearing.

      to wear down the heels of one's shoes.

   2. to weary; tire.

      His constant talking wears me down.

   3. to prevail by persistence; overcome.

      to wear down the opposition.

idioms

1. wear thin,

   1. to diminish; weaken.

      My patience is wearing thin.

   2. to become less appealing, interesting, tolerable, etc..

      childish antics that soon wore thin.

wear ¹ British  

/ wɛə /

verb

1. (tr) to carry or have (a garment, etc) on one's person as clothing, ornament, etc

2. (tr) to carry or have on one's person habitually

   she wears a lot of red

3. (tr) to have in one's aspect

   to wear a smile

4. (tr) to display, show, or fly

   a ship wears its colours

5. to deteriorate or cause to deteriorate by constant use or action

6. to produce or be produced by constant rubbing, scraping, etc

   to wear a hole in one's trousers

7. to bring or be brought to a specified condition by constant use or action

   to wear a tyre to shreds

8. (intr) to submit to constant use or action in a specified way

   his suit wears well

9. (tr) to harass or weaken

10. (of time) to pass or be passed slowly

11. slang (tr) to accept

    Larry won't wear that argument

12. to change the tack of a sailing vessel, esp a square-rigger, by coming about so that the wind passes astern

---

noun

1. the act of wearing or state of being worn

2. 1. anything designed to be worn

      leisure wear

   2. ( in combination )

      nightwear

3. deterioration from constant or normal use or action

4. the quality of resisting the effects of constant use

Wear ² British  

/ wɪə /

noun

1. a river in NE England, rising in NW Durham and flowing southeast then northeast to the North Sea at Sunderland. Length: 105 km (65 miles)

---

wear ³ British  

/ wɛə /

verb

1. nautical to tack by gybing instead of by going through stays

---

wear More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing wear

• hair shirt, wear a
• if the shoe fits, wear it
• none the worse for (wear)
• worse for wear

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• wearer
  noun
• rewear
  verb

Inflected Forms

Participles

• wearing
  present
• worn
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• wear
  simple
• wears
  simple
• have worn
  perfect
• has worn
  perfect
• am wearing
  progressive
• are wearing
  progressive
• is wearing
  progressive
• have been wearing
  perfect progressive
• has been wearing
  perfect progressive

Past

• wore
  simple
• had worn
  perfect
• was wearing
  progressive
• were wearing
  progressive
• had been wearing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will wear
  simple
• will have worn
  perfect
• will be wearing
  progressive
• will have been wearing
  perfect progressive

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

wear Wear wears wore worn wearing

The firm compared the buildings’ total savings with their physical wear.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026

Zainab, who is Muslim and wears a hijab, is also often one of the only people covering her hair at premieres, but she says finding ways to incorporate modest wear is part of the fun.

From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026

Make it brilliant white, with gold piping and epaulets, and I guarantee he’d wear it.

From Salon ● Aug. 7, 2026

Equipment would also wear down, break, and eventually need to be replaced.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 7, 2026

My hands crabbed into half fists and I had to wear special gloves to keep them open.

From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman

The ancestral home of George Washington's family - Washington Old Hall, Tyne and Wear - is just one such location, where local young people are set to read from the document on 4 July itself.

From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026

Do you have a story suggestion for BBC Wear?

From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2026

According to Women’s Wear Daily, Emma Chamberlain’s Met Gala dress took 40 hours to paint and four days to dry.

From Salon ● May 5, 2026

Women’s Wear Daily earlier reported some of the details of the plan to relaunch Barneys.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 15, 2026

The manager of the Men’s Wear & Accessories department is a Mr. Kellerman, although I have already learned that employees under a certain age refer to him as Killer Man.

From "The Misfits" by James Howe

No one has anything bad to say about the man who wears No. 52.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 2, 2026

Since then, he often wears a Panama hat.

From Barron's ● Aug. 2, 2026

In the book, Kip loves the English and the West — so much so that he sings their songs and wears their clothes.

From Salon ● Jul. 28, 2026

Here, erosion gradually wears down mountains and other landforms.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 25, 2026

Madge wears a vest and looks even more like a real musician than she did at Halloween.

From "Muffled" by Jennifer Gennari

Zendaya recently wore an enormous white winged creation from the label to the premiere of “The Odyssey,” styled by longtime collaborator Law Roach.

From Salon ● Aug. 9, 2026

Turkish club Fenerbahce's new away shirt is inspired by the first kit the club ever wore when they were founded in 1907.

From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026

Each participant wore a wrist device for seven consecutive days to record typical physical activity.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 8, 2026

Actor and Tibetan activist Richard Gere headlined an hourslong Times Square rally on Saturday honoring Lobga where many wore T-shirts depicting him as a martyr surrounded by flames.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026

He wore a gray belted suit and held a large picnic basket with both hands.

From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu

Kylie Jenner has even worn the brand in a Dunkin’ campaign.

From Salon ● Aug. 9, 2026

Coventry City's new home shirt draws inspiration from the kit worn by players during the 1987 FA Cup final victory over Tottenham Hotspur.

From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026

Fulham's away shirt is a reinterpretation of an iconic chequered jersey worn 30 years ago during the 1996-97 season.

From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026

For their new home shirt, the Black Cats have drawn inspiration from the shirt worn by players during the club's first FA Cup victory at Wembley over Preston North End in 1937.

From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026

Then they put some clothes on him, which made him nice and warm, though the clothes felt odd because he had never worn clothes before.

From "All About Sam" by Lois Lowry

"I think we have an uphill battle," said the 34-year-old, wearing a "Memphis" t-shirt.

From Barron's ● Aug. 8, 2026

In general, try to think about how would you feel if you ran into a big senior executive wearing this?

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

Responding officers from the Beverly Hills Police Department noticed she was not wearing the ankle monitor she was required to keep on as a condition of her bail last week, leading L.A.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026

Two tall, armed police officers, wearing balaclavas, stood either side of a handcuffed Ahmadzai as they led him, in what felt like quite a performative manner, past the reporters.

From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026

They’re wearing clothes that are straight out of the ’80s.

From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold

Related Words

• bear
• carry
• cover
• display
• don
• get into
• get on
• put on
• show
• slip on
• sport
• wrap