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WEARING
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The act of having on your person as a covering or adornment
Example:
she bought it for everyday wear
Synonyms:
wear; wearing
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("wearing" is a kind of...):
act; deed; human action; human activity (something that people do or cause to happen)
Derivation:
wear (have on one's person)
Sense 2
Meaning:
(geology) the mechanical process of wearing or grinding something down (as by particles washing over it)
Synonyms:
eating away; eroding; erosion; wearing; wearing away
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural processes
Hypernyms ("wearing" is a kind of...):
geologic process; geological process ((geology) a natural process whereby geological features are modified)
Domain category:
geology (a science that deals with the history of the earth as recorded in rocks)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "wearing"):
chatter mark (marks on a glaciated rock caused by the movement of a glacier)
ablation (the erosive process that reduces the size of glaciers)
abrasion; attrition; corrasion; detrition (erosion by friction)
beach erosion (the erosion of beaches)
deflation ((geology) the erosion of soil as a consequence of sand and dust and loose rocks being removed by the wind)
planation (the process of erosion whereby a level surface is produced)
soil erosion (the washing away of soil by the flow of water)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Producing exhaustion
Example:
the visit was especially wearing
Synonyms:
exhausting; tiring; wearing; wearying
Classified under:
Similar:
effortful (requiring great physical effort)
III. (verb)
Sense 1
-ing form of the verb wear
Context examples:
Mercury retrograde will show you when the gears in your machines are wearing out or when the software is not behaving properly.
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
I wish wearing flatirons on our heads would keep us from growing up.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
Many people are improved by wearing it short and perhaps I should be among the number.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Treatment depends on the cause, but may include applying ice, taking pain relievers, getting physical therapy or wearing a cervical collar.
(Neck Injuries and Disorders, NIH)
Fanny acknowledged her wishes and doubts on this point: she did not know how either to wear the cross, or to refrain from wearing it.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
Anne Elliot, so young; known to so few, to be snatched off by a stranger without alliance or fortune; or rather sunk by him into a state of most wearing, anxious, youth-killing dependence!
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
Amongst other things, she clutched the wreath of flowers that Dr. Van Helsing insisted on my wearing round my neck, and tore it away from me.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
She’s wearing away under it—just wearing away before my eyes.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Meantime, Mr. Rochester affirmed I was wearing him to skin and bone, and threatened awful vengeance for my present conduct at some period fast coming.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Getting rid of tripping hazards in your home and wearing nonskid shoes may also help.
(Falls, NIH: National Institute on Aging)
