wear down
verb
wore down; worn down; wearing down; wears down
: to weary and overcome by persistent resistance or pressure
Examples of wear down in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The Pacers are using their depth to wear down New York.
—
Tyler Everett, MSNBC Newsweek, 25 May 2025
That slows down response times and wears down teams.
—Tony Bradley, Forbes.com, 20 May 2025
But our goal is to hound the puck and wear down opponents offensively.
—Michael Russo, New York Times, 19 May 2025
Instead of spending money and wearing down staff to fly in and out of a country to do each inspection, officials said, the agency would combine multiple inspections into a single trip.
—Paula Cohen, CBS News, 6 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for wear down
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Tyler Everett, MSNBC Newsweek, 25 May 2025
That slows down response times and wears down teams.
—Tony Bradley, Forbes.com, 20 May 2025
But our goal is to hound the puck and wear down opponents offensively.
—Michael Russo, New York Times, 19 May 2025
Instead of spending money and wearing down staff to fly in and out of a country to do each inspection, officials said, the agency would combine multiple inspections into a single trip.
—Paula Cohen, CBS News, 6 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for wear down
Cite this Entry
“Wear down.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wear%20down. Accessed 4 Jun. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share