Meaning & use
fatigue
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Meanings
noununcountable
Extreme tiredness caused by hard work, illness or lack of rest.
Grammar: No plural and no a: she suffered from fatigue.
Patterns
- suffer from fatigue
- fatigue from something
Long shifts left the nurses in a state of fatigue.
He felt fatigue after the hike.
noununcountablefigurative
A loss of interest or patience after too much of the same thing.
Grammar: Often used after a noun, as in compassion fatigue or voter fatigue.
Patterns
- something fatigue
Viewers developed fatigue from the endless election ads.
Donor fatigue has reduced giving to the charity.
noununcountabletechnical
The weakening of a material, such as metal, after repeated stress.
Grammar: Often metal fatigue or fatigue cracks.
Patterns
- metal fatigue
Metal fatigue caused the crack in the wing.
Engineers test bridges for fatigue.
verbtransitiveformal
To make someone extremely tired.
Grammar: Takes an object: the hike fatigued her.
Patterns
- fatigue someone
The long climb fatigued the whole group.
Heat can fatigue even strong athletes.
Word forms
| third person singular | fatigues |
|---|---|
| past tense | fatigued |
| past participle | fatigued |
| -ing form | fatiguing |
Common combinations
- chronic fatigue
- He sees a doctor about chronic fatigue.
- mental fatigue
- Mental fatigue slows your thinking.
- metal fatigue
- Metal fatigue weakened the beam.
- suffer from fatigue
- Many drivers suffer from fatigue.
- battle fatigue
- The soldier was treated for battle fatigue.
Synonyms and how they differ
- exhaustion
- Exhaustion is stronger and suggests having no energy left at all.
- weariness
- Weariness often includes boredom or emotional strain.
- tiredness
- Tiredness is the everyday, milder word.
Opposites
Word family
- fatigued adjective
- very tired
- fatiguing adjective
- causing tiredness
- tireless adjective
- never getting tired
Commonly confused: fatigue or fatigues?
fatigue vs fatigues
Fatigues (plural) means loose military work clothing and has a different sense.
Practice
Engineers worry about metal ____ in old bridges.
Choose one answer.
Metal fatigue is a fixed technical phrase with a noun. 'Fatigued' is an adjective or past form, and 'exhaust' is a verb or a different noun.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “fatigue”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.