wear\ thin

wear\ thin
v
1. To become thin from use, wearing, or the passing of time.

My old pair of pants has worn thin at the knees.

This old dime has worn very thin.

2. To grow less, or less interesting; decrease.

The joke began to wear thin when you heard it too many times.

The teacher's patience began to wear thin when he saw that no one knew the lesson.


Словарь американских идиом. — СПб., Изд-во "Лань". . 1997.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • wear thin — ► wear thin gradually dwindle or be used up. Main Entry: ↑wear …   English terms dictionary

  • wear thin — verb deteriorate through use or stress (Freq. 1) The constant friction wore out the cloth • Syn: ↑wear, ↑wear off, ↑wear out, ↑wear down • Derivationally related forms: ↑wear ( …   Useful english dictionary

  • wear thin — {v.} 1. To become thin from use, wearing, or the passing of time. * /My old pair of pants has worn thin at the knees./ * /This old dime has worn very thin./ 2. To grow less, or less interesting; decrease. * /The joke began to wear thin when you… …   Dictionary of American idioms

  • wear thin — {v.} 1. To become thin from use, wearing, or the passing of time. * /My old pair of pants has worn thin at the knees./ * /This old dime has worn very thin./ 2. To grow less, or less interesting; decrease. * /The joke began to wear thin when you… …   Dictionary of American idioms

  • wear thin — 1) become thin from use or the passing of time The silver dollar had begun to wear thin after it was in use for many years. 2) grow less or less interesting or believable His excuses have begun to wear thin after he keeps using the same ones over …   Idioms and examples

  • wear thin —    Something that is wearing thin is decreasing or losing its interest.     You ve used that excuse so many times, it s beginning to wear thin as in my patience! …   English Idioms & idiomatic expressions

  • wear thin — if something such as a feeling or explanation wears thin, it becomes gradually weaker or harder to accept After 50 pages, the reader s patience starts to wear thin …   English dictionary

  • wear thin — 1. if your patience wears thin, you become less and less patient. I ve warned you several times about being late and my patience is wearing thin. (often in continuous tenses) 2. if a joke, an excuse, or an explanation wears thin, it becomes less… …   New idioms dictionary

  • wear thin — phrasal 1. to become weak or ready to give way < my patience was wearing thin > 2. to become trite, unconvincing, or out of date < an argument that quickly wore thin > …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • wear thin — verb To lessen or weaken over time, as from overuse. Continuing his recent stern rhetoric, Swedish Finance Minister Anders Borg told reporters in Stockholm that many have worked hard to help Latvia deal with its severe economic recession but that …   Wiktionary

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”