Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

wear down

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.88 in modern English

Syllables: wear -down
IPA

15

Scrabble Score

8

Letters

2

Syllables

7

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To cause (someone) physical or mental fatigue.

verb

To eventually persuade or defeat (someone) through persistent effort.

verb

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see wear, down.

Example Sentences

"The eight hour shift in the mine began to wear Tim down after a few months."
"(sports) To make the opponent tired after using a strategy while conserving own energy to attack later."
"He tried to wear down the bowlers before lunch so he could attack the bowlers after lunch."
"At first she refused to buy the kids sweets, but eventually they wore her down."
"Congratulations, you got your shot in You wore me down"

Inflected Forms

wears down (present, singular) wearing down (participle, present) wore down (past) worn down (participle, past)

Phrases

noli illegitimi carborundum

Frequently Paired Words

noli illegitimi carborundum grind down

Synonyms

tire wear upon tire out wear weary jade wear out outwear fag out fag fatigue

Questions

What does wear down mean?: To cause (someone) physical or mental fatigue.

How to pronounce wear down

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “wear down”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “wear down”.
Repeat and practice — Say “wear down” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.