worn-out
adjective
worn or used beyond repair.
worn-out
American
[wawrn-out, wohrn-]
/ ˈwɔrnˈaʊt, ˈwoʊrn- /
adjective
-
worn or used beyond repair.
-
depleted of energy, strength, or enthusiasm; exhausted; fatigued.
worn-out
British
adjective
-
worn or used until threadbare, valueless, or useless
-
exhausted; very weary
worn out
Idioms
Etymology
Origin of worn-out
First recorded in 1585–95
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:
The federal government encouraged pine planting with annual payments to landowners through programs meant to reduce erosion and support crop prices by converting worn-out farmland.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
Fans sit on plastic chairs arranged on the sandy floor, their chatter mingling with the hum of a worn-out generator.
From Barron's ● Jun. 18, 2026
Hundreds of watches, an encyclopedic knowledge of the movie and its production, a worn-out DVD copy hanging on by a thread, and a whole career later, I still owe it everything.
From Salon ● May 1, 2026
Speaking to the BBC, dressed in worn-out clothes and bathroom slippers, he sounds stressed and bitter as he recalls his incarceration.
From BBC ● Apr. 22, 2026
I noticed the faded porch with its ornate woodwork and realized I was at the worn-out gingerbread house that belonged to the stony lady who always sat on the porch.
From "Moon Over Manifest" by Clare Vanderpool
Residents say the end can’t come soon enough and that the cold storage industry behemoth has already worn out its welcome.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
"People are exhausted and worn out," a 32-year-old lawyer in Sanaa told AFP, asking not to be named.
From Barron's ● Mar. 16, 2026
Osteoarthritis is not simply about "worn out" joints.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 4, 2026
"We are worn out, we have been set back decades, but we are not even on the Pope's mind," he said, echoing the views of some others in southern Lebanon.
From BBC ● Nov. 30, 2025
It’s easy to envision them, two brown bodies curled against each other under a threadbare blanket, both worn out from a hard day’s work in the harvesting fields.
From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray
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.
