Meanings
comparative more worn · superlative most worn · alternative obsolete worne
- Damaged and shabby as a result of much use.
Upon this, an unhappy-looking woman, in a sort of mourning, neat, but sadly worn, hid her face behind a meagre bundle, and was heard to sob.
1857, Herman Melville, chapter XVIII, in The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade1 more example
In Pisa, where [Galileo] was born, I climbed the worn steps of the tower that has been leaning southward almost from the day it was built in the 13th century.
1989 May, John Boslough, “Searching for the Secrets of Gravity”, in National Geographic, volume 175, number 5, page 567 - Worn out; exhausted.
Preëminently is the Lake District suited for the jaded and worn, who seek in solitude and amidst scenery unmoiled and unsullied by human artifice, refreshment alike of body and spirit.
1889, The Wesley Naturalist, volume 2, page 143
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveshowing the wearing effects of overwork or care or suffering
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
By analogy to past participles like torn from tear and sworn from swear.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian износен
- износен (iznosen)damaged and shabby from too much use
Estonian väsinud
- väsinuddamaged and shabby from too much use
Finnish kulunut
- kulunutdamaged and shabby from too much use
Hungarian elhasznált, elnyűtt
- elhasználtdamaged and shabby from too much use
- elnyűttdamaged and shabby from too much use
- kopottdamaged and shabby from too much use
Italian logoro
- logorodamaged and shabby from too much use
Latin trītus
- trītusdamaged and shabby from too much use
Māori nguture, ruha
- nguturedamaged and shabby from too much use
- ruhadamaged and shabby from too much use
- ruwhadamaged and shabby from too much use
- tāwekowekodamaged and shabby from too much use
- waikaueredamaged and shabby from too much use
- pūngurudamaged and shabby from too much use
Portuguese gastado, gasto
- gastadodamaged and shabby from too much use
- gastodamaged and shabby from too much use
- surradodamaged and shabby from too much use
Spanish desgastado, desgastada
- desgastadodamaged and shabby from too much use
- desgastadadamaged and shabby from too much use
Swedish sliten
- slitendamaged and shabby from too much use
Turkish aşınmış, yıpranmış
- aşınmışdamaged and shabby from too much use
- yıpranmışdamaged and shabby from too much use
- yalamadamaged and shabby from too much use
Ukrainian зно́шений, поно́шений
- зно́шений (znóšenyj)damaged and shabby from too much use
- поно́шений (ponóšenyj)damaged and shabby from too much use
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with worn
Sounds the same
Cite this entry
worn. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/worn
“worn.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/worn. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “worn,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/worn.
Source: worn on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.