Library / English Dictionary

EXHAUSTION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of exhausting something entirely

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("exhaustion" is a kind of...):

depletion (the act of decreasing something markedly)

Derivation:

exhaust (wear out completely)

exhaust (use up the whole supply of)

exhaust (use up (resources or materials))

exhaust (deplete)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Serious weakening and loss of energy

Synonyms:

debilitation; enervation; enfeeblement; exhaustion

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("exhaustion" is a kind of...):

weakening (becoming weaker)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Extreme fatigue

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("exhaustion" is a kind of...):

fatigue; tiredness; weariness (temporary loss of strength and energy resulting from hard physical or mental work)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "exhaustion"):

inanition (exhaustion resulting from lack of food)

frazzle (a state of extreme exhaustion)

brain-fag; mental exhaustion (exhaustion that affects mental keenness)

Credits

 Context examples: 

They were beginning to show signs of exhaustion.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Exhaustion succeeded to the extreme fatigue both of body and of mind which I had endured.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

From pain and sheer exhaustion I wept in the darkness, secretly, so that Maud should not know.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

“Absolute exhaustion—possibly mere hunger and fatigue,” said I, with my finger on the thready pulse, where the stream of life trickled thin and small.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

For two nights I had hardly had a wink of sleep, and my brain was beginning to feel that numbness which marks cerebral exhaustion.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

I'm in such a state of exhaustion I can't get home without help.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I was hurried upon my last visit by the approach of the rainy season and by the exhaustion of my supplies.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But Dick was not to be comforted; indeed, it was soon plain to me that the lad was falling sick; hastened by heat, exhaustion, and the shock of his alarm, the fever, predicted by Dr. Livesey, was evidently growing swiftly higher.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

I did not even observe her voice to falter, or a tear to escape from her eyes, the whole day through, until twilight; when she and I and Mr. Peggotty being alone together, and he having fallen asleep in perfect exhaustion, she broke into a half-suppressed fit of sobbing and crying, and taking me to the door, said, Ever bless you, Mas'r Davy, be a friend to him, poor dear!

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

It was pitiful, however, to see his exhaustion.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)