Words / W / General

wear thin

verb/weə θɪn/

B2CEFR level
45/100Rarity: uncommon
NeutralRegister

To become gradually less convincing, effective or tolerable through overuse or the passing of time.

His excuses for being late are starting to wear thin with the whole team.

Similar: wear off

Topic: Idioms & phrasal verbs in General English

Rarity runs from 0 (a word everyone knows) to 100 (almost never seen outside specialist or literary writing). Level is the word's real difficulty on the CEFR scale, from A1 to C2.

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More general words: Idioms & phrasal verbs