Meaning & use
burnt out
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Meanings
adjectivenot comparable
Completely exhausted in body and mind after a long period of work, stress or caring for others, with little energy or interest left.
Grammar: Used after a verb like feel: I feel burnt out. Before a noun it is hyphenated: a burnt-out teacher.
Patterns
- feel burnt out
- be burnt out by something
I have been feeling burnt out since the project started.
The burnt-out nurse asked for a month off.
She was burnt out after caring for her parents for years.
adjectivebefore a noun
Badly damaged or wrecked by fire so that only the frame or outline remains.
Grammar: Comes before a noun: a burnt-out car, a burnt-out building.
Patterns
- a burnt-out building
- a burnt-out car
A burnt-out car lay beside the road.
The burnt-out shell of the factory stood empty for years.
Children were told to stay away from the burnt-out warehouse.
Common combinations
- feel burnt out
- I feel burnt out and need a long rest.
- completely burnt out
- By December he was completely burnt out.
- burnt-out car
- Police found a burnt-out car near the river.
- burnt-out teachers
- The union warned of burnt-out teachers leaving the profession.
- burnt-out building
- A burnt-out building stood at the corner.
Synonyms and how they differ
- exhausted
- Exhausted can describe simple physical tiredness after one day, while burnt out suggests a long build-up of stress.
- drained
- Drained stresses the loss of energy and emotion, but does not suggest a long career or work cause.
- worn out
- Worn out is a more casual way to say very tired, and it can also apply to objects.
- fried
- Fried is very informal and mostly used for mental exhaustion in a joking tone.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: burnt out or fed up?
burnt out vs fed up
Fed up means annoyed and tired of something, while burnt out means having no energy left after too much effort.
Practice
After a decade of night shifts, the paramedic felt completely burnt out. This means she felt:
Choose one answer.
Burnt out describes exhaustion after long stress. 'Angry' is tempting because stressed people can be irritable, but the word is about lack of energy.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “burnt out”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.