outworn

American  

[out-wawrn, -wohrn] / ˈaʊtˈwɔrn, -ˈwoʊrn /

adjective

1. out-of-date, outmoded, or obsolete.

   outworn ideas; outworn methods.

2. worn-out, as clothes.

3. exhausted in strength or endurance, as persons.

---

verb

1. past participle of outwear.

outworn British  

/ ˌaʊtˈwɔːn, ˈaʊtwɔːn /

adjective

1. no longer accepted, used, believed, etc; obsolete or outmoded

---

Other Word Forms

• unoutworn adjective

Etymology

Origin of outworn

First recorded in 1555–65; out- + worn

Example Sentences

Setting recent works among older ones is an effective element of LACMA’s overall plan to shed outworn hierarchies.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 22, 2026

Could I remount the river of my years To the first fountain of our smiles and tears I would not trace again its stream of hours Between its outworn banks of withered flowers.

From Salon • Dec. 25, 2021

That “hacky, grinding, stinking, outworn, spaceship yarn,” as science fiction author Wilson Tucker memorably put it when he coined the term in 1941.

From Washington Post • Dec. 17, 2021

His theatrical, packed-to-the-gills exhibition at the Frye Art Museum aims to supplant the outworn heroes and cultural assumptions of the Western canon with new heroes, histories and paradigms.

From Seattle Times • Feb. 6, 2018

Regularly he revolted against outworn techniques and materials.

From "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck

Related Words

• ancient
• antique
• archaic
• corny
• dated
• odd
• old
• old-time
• outdated
• outmoded
• primitive