Meanings
present singular third person wears out one's welcome · participle present wearing out one's welcome · past wore out one's welcome · participle past worn out one's welcome
- idiomaticTo behave in an offensive, burdensome, or tiresome manner, with the result that one's continued presence is unwanted within a residence, commercial establishment, or social group.
No: he feared to "wear out his welcome," he said: they had "seen enough of him for one while": […]
1889, Lewis Carroll [pseudonym; Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], Sylvie and Bruno, London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 2242 more examples
"Well, I don't aim to have no truck with you at all," blustered the fat man. "You've just naturally wore out yore welcome with me before ever you set down. I'll ask you to go right now."
1921, William MacLeod Raine, chapter 30, in Tangled TrailsThe pet, appropriately named Tiger, wore out his welcome very quickly. "Evidently Tiger was a real 'Conan the Destroyer' beastie," reports Harding.
2005 November 3, “Presidential Cat Tales”, in TimeSynonyms: outstay one's welcome, overstay one's welcome · Antonyms: understay one's welcome
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo behave in an offensive, burdensome, or tiresome manner, with the result that one's continued presence is unwanted within a residence, commercial establishment, or social group.
Translations
Finnish lakata olemasta tervetullut
- lakata olemasta tervetullutto make one's presence unwanted
German die Gastfreundschaft überbeanspruchen
- die Gastfreundschaft überbeanspruchento make one's presence unwanted
Hungarian visszaél a vendégszeretettel
- visszaél a vendégszeretettelto make one's presence unwanted
Polish nadużywać gościnności, nadużyć gościnności
- nadużywać gościnnościto make one's presence unwanted
- nadużyć gościnnościto make one's presence unwanted
Russian злоупотреблять гостеприимством
- злоупотреблять гостеприимством (zloupotrebljatʹ gostepriimstvom)to make one's presence unwanted
Spanish desgastar/sobrepasar la bienvenida/hospitalidad, abusar/propasarse de la bienvenida/hospitalidad
- desgastar/sobrepasar la bienvenida/hospitalidadto make one's presence unwanted
- abusar/propasarse de la bienvenida/hospitalidadto make one's presence unwanted
Cite this entry
wear out one's welcome. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wear%20out%20one's%20welcome
“wear out one's welcome.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wear%20out%20one's%20welcome. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “wear out one's welcome,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wear%20out%20one's%20welcome.
Source: wear out one's welcome on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.