Meaning & use
be weary
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Meanings
phraselinkingformalliterary
To feel very tired, especially after long effort or hard work.
Grammar: Links a subject to the adjective weary: They were weary after the journey.
Patterns
- be weary from something
- be weary after something
- be weary of something
The walkers were weary after ten hours on the mountain.
She was weary from months of night shifts.
By evening the whole team was weary but satisfied.
phraselinkingformal
To be tired of something and no longer want to deal with it.
Grammar: Followed by of plus a noun or -ing form: I am weary of waiting.
Patterns
- be weary of something
- be weary of doing something
Voters were weary of hearing the same promises.
He was weary of explaining himself to strangers.
Word forms
| present: I/you/we/they | am/are weary |
|---|---|
| present: he/she/it | is weary |
| past | was/were weary |
| comparative | wearier |
| superlative | weariest |
Common combinations
- be weary from work
- He was weary from work and went straight to bed.
- be weary of something
- They were weary of the endless delays.
- grow weary
- The audience began to grow weary near the end.
- be weary after a long day
- She was weary after a long day of teaching.
- world-weary
- His world-weary tone suggested he had seen it all before.
Synonyms and how they differ
- be tired
- The everyday choice; it works in almost any situation, while be weary sounds more literary.
- be exhausted
- Much stronger: it means extremely tired, almost unable to continue.
- be fatigued
- A technical or medical way of saying very tired.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: be weary or be wary? be weary or be worried?
be weary vs be wary
Wary means 'careful because of possible danger' and is followed by of: be wary of strangers. Weary is about tiredness.
be weary vs be worried
Worried is about anxiety, not physical tiredness, though both can be followed by of.
Practice
After three weeks of night shifts, the nurses were weary ______ the schedule.
Choose one answer.
'Weary of' means tired of something and no longer wanting it. 'Weary from' would describe the cause of physical tiredness, but here the schedule is what they are fed up with.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “be weary”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.