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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

wear.

To have on:

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/wɛə/Received-Pronunciation/wɛː/British, Southern, Standard/wɛ(ə)ɹ/General-American[wɛɚ]General-American
  1. To have on: To carry or have equipped on or about one's body, as an item of clothing, equipment, decoration, perfume, etc.

    transitive
    He's wearing some nice pants today.
    She wore her medals with pride.
  2. To have on: To have or carry on one's person habitually, consistently; or, to maintain in a particular fashion or manner.

    transitive
    He wears eyeglasses.
    She wears her hair in braids.
  3. To have on: To bear or display in one's aspect or appearance.

    transitive
    She wore a smile all day.
    He walked out of the courtroom wearing an air of satisfaction.
  4. To erode: 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.
  5. To erode: To undergo gradual deterioration; become impaired; be reduced or consumed gradually due to any continued process, activity, or use.

    copulative · intransitive
    The tiles were wearing thin due to years of children's feet.
  6. To erode: To exhaust, fatigue, expend, or weary.

    His neverending criticism has finally worn my patience.
    Toil and care soon wear the spirit.
  7. To erode: (in the phrase "wearing on (someone)") To cause annoyance, irritation, fatigue, or weariness near the point of an exhaustion of patience.

    colloquial · intransitive
    Her high pitched voice is really wearing on me lately.
  8. To endure: To overcome one's reluctance and endure a (previously specified) situation.

    colloquial
    I know you don't like working with him, but you'll just have to wear it.
  9. To endure: To last or remain durable under hard use or over time; to retain usefulness, value, or desirable qualities under any continued strain or long period of time; sometimes said of a person, regarding the quality of being easy or difficult to tolerate.

    intransitive
    Don't worry, this fabric will wear. These pants will last you for years.
    This color wears so well. I must have washed this sweater a thousand times.
  10. To endure: To pass slowly, gradually or tediously.

    intransitive
    wear on, wear away.
    As the years wore on, we seemed to have less and less in common.
  11. To bring (a sailing vessel) onto the other tack by bringing the wind around the stern (as opposed to tacking when the wind is brought around the bow); to come round on another tack by turning away from the wind.

Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *wes- Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti Proto-Indo-European *woséyeti Proto-Germanic *wazjaną Proto-West Germanic *waʀjan Old English werian Middle English weren English wear Inherited from Middle English weren, werien, from Old English werian (“to clothe, cover over; put on, wear, use; stock (land)”), from Proto-West Germanic *waʀjan, from Proto-Germanic *wazjaną (“to clothe”), from Proto-Indo-European *wes- (“to dress, put on (clothes)”). Cognate to Sanskrit वस्ते (váste), Ancient Greek ἕννυμι (hénnumi, “put on”), Latin vestis (“garment”) (English vest), Albanian vesh (“dress up, wear”), Tocharian B wäs-, Old Armenian զգենում (zgenum), Welsh gwisgo, Hittite 𒉿𒀸- (waš-). Originally a weak verb (i.e. with a past tense in -ed), it became irregular during the Middle English period by analogy with verbs like beren (whence bear) and teren (whence tear).

noun/wɛə/Received-Pronunciation/wɛː/British, Southern, Standard/wɛ(ə)ɹ/General-American[wɛɚ]General-American
  1. Clothing.

    in-compounds · uncountable
    footwear; outdoor wear; maternity wear
  2. Damage to the appearance and/or strength of an item caused by use over time.

    uncountable
  3. Fashion.

    uncountable
  4. Wearing.

    uncountable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *wes- Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti Proto-Indo-European *woséyeti Proto-Germanic *wazjaną Proto-West Germanic *waʀjan Old English werian Middle English weren English wear Inherited from Middle English weren, werien, from Old English werian (“to clothe, cover over; put on, wear, use; stock (land)”), from Proto-West Germanic *waʀjan, from Proto-Germanic *wazjaną (“to clothe”), from Proto-Indo-European *wes- (“to dress, put on (clothes)”). Cognate to Sanskrit वस्ते (váste), Ancient Greek ἕννυμι (hénnumi, “put on”), Latin vestis (“garment”) (English vest), Albanian vesh (“dress up, wear”), Tocharian B wäs-, Old Armenian զգենում (zgenum), Welsh gwisgo, Hittite 𒉿𒀸- (waš-). Originally a weak verb (i.e. with a past tense in -ed), it became irregular during the Middle English period by analogy with verbs like beren (whence bear) and teren (whence tear).

verb
  1. To guard; watch; keep watch, especially from entry or invasion.

    UK · dialectal · transitive
  2. To defend; protect.

    UK · dialectal · transitive
  3. To ward off; prevent from approaching or entering; drive off; repel.

    UK · dialectal · transitive
  4. To conduct or guide with care or caution, as into a fold or place of safety.

    UK · dialectal · transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English weren, werien, from Old English werian (“to guard, keep, defend; ward off, hinder, prevent, forbid; restrain; occupy, inhabit; dam up; discharge obligations on (land)”), from Proto-West Germanic *warjan, from Proto-Germanic *warjaną (“to defend, protect, ward off”), from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to close, cover, protect, save, defend”). Cognate with Scots wer, weir (“to defend, protect”), Dutch weren (“to aver, ward off”), German wehren (“to fight”), Swedish värja (“to defend, ward off”), Icelandic verja (“to defend”).

noun
  1. Dated form of weir.

    alt-of · dated
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.