wearing

[ wair-ing ]

adjective

1. gradually impairing or wasting:

   Reading small print can be wearing on the eyes.

2. wearying or exhausting:

   a wearing task.

3. relating to or made for wear.

wearing

/ ˈwɛərɪŋ /

adjective

1. causing fatigue or exhaustion; tiring

Derived Forms

• ˈwearingly, adverb

Other Words From

• wearing·ly adverb
• un·wearing adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of wearing¹

First recorded in 1805–15; wear + -ing ²

Example Sentences

Because vaccine production is still scaling up, getting things under control well enough to head off a second phase of the pandemic would have to rely heavily on social distancing and mask-wearing.

From Axios

Their spread can be inhibited by the same common-sense measures, like social distancing and mask-wearing.

From Washington Post

Dining halls will be all takeout at first, to maximize mask-wearing in places where students run into each other.

From Washington Post

Airlines typically require self-declarations and mask-wearing by passengers but do not conduct professional health screenings or require coronavirus testing of domestic passengers.

From Washington Post

Berenson said on the show Monday that mask-wearing has made “absolutely zero difference” in alleviating the pandemic, despite the scientific consensus to the contrary.

From Washington Post

One difference was that Chen was herself wearing white gloves.

From The Daily Beast

She is wearing a crop top, and Andrew has his arm wrapped around her waist.

From The Daily Beast

Otis says he was wearing a tan jacket similar to one described by witnesses.

From The Daily Beast

She was not wearing hejab but more surprising that that, is married to an Englishman.

From The Daily Beast

Wearing the right foot of a chicken was considered good luck.

From The Daily Beast

And she would be wearing some of the jewels with the white dress—just a few, not many, of course.

From Project Gutenberg

That she had her definite reason he knew, as a woman knows when another woman is wearing a last year's gown.

From Project Gutenberg

The law went into operation in England imposing a tax on wearing hair powder.

From Project Gutenberg

Governor Endicott, and other influential men in Massachusetts, formed an association against wearing long hair!

From Project Gutenberg

I should judge from the streets that not more than one-fourth of the females of Galway belong to the shoe-wearing aristocracy.

From Project Gutenberg