Meaning & use
weary
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Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Very tired in body or mind, especially after a long effort, a long journey, or too little rest.
Grammar: Used before a noun or after a verb: a weary traveler, she felt weary.
Patterns
- weary from something
- feel weary
- a weary look
The weary hikers dropped their packs at the end of the trail.
He gave a weary sigh and closed his laptop.
She felt weary after the twelve-hour flight.
adjectivecomparable
No longer interested or patient because something has gone on for too long, usually followed by of.
Grammar: Needs of before the cause: weary of the noise, not weary from the noise.
Patterns
- weary of something
- weary of doing something
Voters grew weary of the endless promises.
I am weary of explaining the same thing again and again.
The public is weary of the long dispute.
verbtransitive or intransitiveliterary
To make someone very tired, or to become tired of something.
Grammar: Uncommon and rather literary; weary someone or weary of something.
Patterns
- weary someone
- weary of something
The long climb wearied even the strongest members of the group.
Readers soon wearied of the author's constant complaints.
The endless meetings wearied her.
Word forms
| comparative | wearier |
|---|---|
| superlative | weariest |
| third person singular | wearies |
| past tense | wearied |
| -ing form | wearying |
Common combinations
- weary of
- She grew weary of the constant travel.
- weary traveler
- The weary traveler found a room at the inn.
- weary smile
- He gave her a weary smile and sat down.
- bone weary
- After the double shift she was bone weary.
- weary eyes
- His weary eyes drifted shut during the lecture.
- weary sigh
- With a weary sigh, the clerk reached for the next file.
Synonyms and how they differ
- exhausted
- Exhausted is stronger and suggests no energy at all, while weary can be a milder, longer-lasting tiredness.
- fed up
- Fed up is informal and more openly angry, whereas weary of sounds quieter and more resigned.
- tired
- Tired is the ordinary word for many degrees of tiredness; weary sounds more literary and often follows hard effort.
- drained
- Drained stresses the loss of emotional or physical energy, and it can come from stress rather than long effort.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: weary or wary? weary or weir?
weary vs wary
Wary means careful and suspicious of danger, not tired; the two words look alike but have different meanings.
weary vs weir
A weir is a low dam across a river and has a different sound and meaning.
Practice
Which sentence uses weary correctly?
Choose one answer.
To say you have lost patience with something, use weary of. From can follow weary of physical effort, but it does not fit lost patience.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “weary”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.