Meaning & use

strung out

adjective·Everyday

Extremely anxious, exhausted, or physically unwell, often from stress, lack of sleep, or drug use.

See it in a sentence

After three exams in one day, she felt completely strung out and needed to sleep.

The character in the film looked strung out, pacing the apartment and unable to relax.

A note on using this word

Strung out is informal and often implies withdrawal from drugs, though it is also used loosely for extreme stress or fatigue.

Words with a similar meaning

exhaustedfrazzled

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

Words with an opposite meaning

relaxedcomposed

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