English → Latin
“wear out” in Latin
conterōto grind or crush to pieces; to bruise or crumble; to wear down or away, consumeextenuōto thin, reduce, diminishexedōto eat up, devour, consume; to corrode
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
wear out
usu deterere or conterere (e.g., a garment): extenuare (to make lean; e.g., corpus alicujus): exedere (to enfeeble). Fever wears away the limbs, febris depascitur artus (Verg., Geo., 3, 458): grief wears away the heart, aegritudo exest animum: ☞ obterere exercitum, to wear out, for consumere, is a poetic phrase of Tac., and Curt.; not to be imitated. Vid: also, EXHAUST.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for wear out?
- The usual Latin words for “wear out” are conterō, extenuō, exedō. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.