wear
/wɛ(ə)ɹ/ verb A1- To carry or have equipped on or about one's body, as an item of clothing, equipment, decoration, perfume, etc. · He's wearing some nice pants today.· She wore her medals with pride.
- To have or carry on one's person habitually, consistently; or, to maintain in a particular fashion or manner. · He wears eyeglasses.· She wears her hair in braids.
- To bear or display in one's aspect or appearance. · She wore a smile all day.· He walked out of the courtroom wearing an air of satisfaction.
- To eat away at, erode, diminish, or consume gradually; to cause a gradual deterioration in; to produce (some change) through attrition, exposure, or constant use. · You're going to wear a hole in the bottom of those shoes.· The water has slowly worn a channel into these rocks.
- To undergo gradual deterioration; become impaired; be reduced or consumed gradually due to any continued process, activity, or use. · The tiles were wearing thin due to years of children's feet.
- To exhaust, fatigue, expend, or weary. · His neverending criticism has finally worn my patience.· Toil and care soon wear the spirit.
- (in the phrase "wearing on (someone)") To cause annoyance, irritation, fatigue, or weariness near the point of an exhaustion of patience. · Her high pitched voice is really wearing on me lately.
- To overcome one's reluctance and endure a (previously specified) situation. · I know you don't like working with him, but you'll just have to wear it.
He/she/it wears · Past wore · Past participle worn · -ing form wearing
Verb forms
- Base form
- wear
- He/she/it
- wears
- Past
- wore
- Past participle
- worn
- -ing form
- wearing
An irregular verb: learn its past and past participle by heart.
Phrasal verbs and expressions
- wear away To erode gradually and progressively.
- wear down To cause (someone) physical or mental fatigue.
- wear in To wear until becoming comfortable or fitting properly; t...
- wear off To diminish in effect.
- wear on To irritate.
- wear out To cause (something) to become damaged, useless, or ineff...
- wear through to use (something) too much so that a hole develops in it
- wear up To tire; to become tired
From the library
It wears an altered face
The judge, by the way, was the King; and as he wore his crown over the wig, (look at the frontispiece if you want to see how he did it,) he did not look at all comfortable, and it was certainly not becoming.
“Wear it to-night, nephew,” she begged.
She wore no chains, bracelets or lockets.
Other matches
Learn wear in real texts
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