weary

Formswearier, weariest

Formswearies, wearying, wearied

1. 1
   exhaustedadjective

   Tired out, with one's strength used up by hard work or effort.

   The weary hikers dropped their packs and sat down by the fire.

   After a double shift, the nurses were too weary to talk.

   Similartired, exhausted, fatigued, drained, spent

   Oppositerested, fresh, energetic

   Note

   The body's tiredness comes first, and the word is as old as English itself: Old English wērig, with cousins across the Germanic languages that still mean tired or exhausted; and, in Old High German, drunken. It gathers to the parts that have done the work, Shakespeare's weary legs and a stranger's weary feet, or to the weary traveler at the door. Its companion, the "tired of it" sense, is the same word turned from muscle to patience.

2. 2
   fed upadjective

   Having run out of patience with, pleasure in, or contentment with something, usually followed by of.

   Voters have grown weary of the endless campaign ads.

   Weary of city life, they sold the apartment and bought a small farm upstate.

   Similartired, exasperated

   Note

   Here the tiredness is of the spirit, and the word almost always takes of, followed by a noun or an -ing form: weary of marching, weary of studying. It says much the same as fed up or sick to the back teeth, but in a steadier, more dignified register, which suits formal prose and reporting on public moods.

3. 3
   showing tirednessadjective

   Showing or expressing tiredness, as a look, voice, or gesture can.

   She answered the reporter's question with a weary sigh.

   His weary voice on the phone told us the meeting had not gone well.

   Similardrawn, haggard

   Oppositeenergetic, lively

4. 4
   verbtransitive or intransitive

   To tire someone out or wear down their patience, or to grow tired or impatient oneself.

   The general knew that a long siege would weary his troops.

   Audiences quickly weary of sequels that repeat the same jokes.

   Similartire, exhaust, fatigue, wear

   Oppositerefresh, invigorate, energize, revive

   Note

   The verb works in both directions: a siege wearies soldiers, as in Julius Caesar, and people weary of a thing themselves. Nineteenth-century novels add weary for, a longing that grows with waiting: Stevenson's narrator in Kidnapped wearies for the sound of a home accent, and Ballantyne's sailor in The Coral Island wearies for daylight.

5. 5
   tiresomeadjective

   Making one tired or bored; tiresome.

   It was a long, weary drive across the plains in the summer heat.

   Packing up the old house was a weary task that took the whole weekend.

   Similartiring, tiresome, exhausting, tedious, wearing

   Oppositerefreshing, invigorating

   Note

   The tiredness moves from the person to what causes it, and this is the sense poets favored: Spenser's weary way, Coleridge's "There passed a weary time". In modern prose it survives mainly with words for journeys, tasks and stretches of time, a weary drive, a weary task, where tedious would sound flatter and more modern.

Showing meanings only. Show all 5