wear

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA ^(key): /wɛə/, SAMPA: /wE@/
• (US) enPR: wĕr, IPA ^(key): /wɛr/, SAMPA: /wEr/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Homophones

• ware
• where (in accents with the wine-whine merger)

Verb

Plain form wear

Third person singular wears

Simple past wore

Past participle worn

Present participle wearing

1. (transitive) When you wear something, you put it on your body and cover your body with it.

   I don't wear shoes on my feet when I am inside.

   She wore a red dress.

2. (transitive & intransitive) When something wears, it gets damaged, over time.

   The car was worn from ten years of hard driving.

   My best leather shoes wore out from all the walking.

   The young girl wore her mother down.

Noun

Singular wear

Plural wears

1. Things show wear after being used for a long time.

   The old school was starting to show wear after one hundred years.