Advertisement

Advertisement

View synonyms for wear and tear

wear and tear

or wear-and-tear

[ tair ]

noun

  1. damage or deterioration resulting from ordinary use; normal depreciation.


wear and tear

noun

  1. damage, depreciation, or loss resulting from ordinary use
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


Discover More

Word History and Origins

Origin of wear and tear1

First recorded in 1660–70
Discover More

Idioms and Phrases

Damage and deterioration resulting from ordinary use and exposure, as in This sofa shows a lot of wear and tear; we should replace it . [Second half of 1600s]
Discover More

Example Sentences

It enables nature to recruit its strength; whereas worry and discontent debilitate it, involving constant wear-and-tear.

Quiriquina, than the ordinary wear-and-tear of the sea and weather during the course of a whole century.

Even the London scenery is faithfully reproduced in material of extra strength, to stand the wear-and-tear of constant removal.

The wear-and-tear of rust is even faster than the tear-and-wear of work.

Advertisement

Related Words

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement