diminished in value or usefulness through wear, use, handling, etc..
The car's front tires were very worn, with little tread left.
showing a considerable level of use or wear.
He read his speech from two worn pieces of notebook paper that had obviously been folded and unfolded many times.
wearied; exhausted.
She looked worn but joyful as she held her newborn daughter.
a combining form with the meaning “showing a specified level of use, deterioration, or consumption”.
Before you toss that little-worn top, consider if it could be given a second life.
a combining form with the meaning “showing wear, deterioration, or exhaustion from a specified cause”.
The old bridges fit the landscape, maybe because they are as windworn and aged as the land around them.
The knights were weary and battleworn when they returned to the castle.
affected, esp adversely, by long use or action
a worn suit
haggard; drawn
exhausted; spent
First recorded in 1500–10, for the adjective
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
So far, Whoop has focused its marketing efforts on positioning itself as an aspirational brand worn by some of the fittest people in the world in the most rarefied spaces.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 8, 2026
But I also looked in at myself as a mother through the leaded-glass pane of our very lovely living-room windows, and I saw a washed-out woman worn down to the thinnest thread.
From Slate • Jul. 6, 2026
Thick lanes of dust stand out as dark filaments because they are dense enough to resist being worn away, creating dramatic contrast against the glowing red clouds.
From Science Daily • Jul. 5, 2026
The president went on to say he planned to renovate a "dilapidated, worn out, and very dangerous" golf course in Washington called East Potomac Golf Links, located on an island in the Potomac River.
From Barron's • Jun. 28, 2026
The Mallons’ house was a black smudge in the fog, the stone walls sleeping, the worn path quiet as we tiptoed over it.
From "Nory Ryan’s Song" by Patricia Reilly Giff
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.
