Meaning
Wear off means to gradually disappear, fade, or lose its effect over time.
It is often used for feelings, sensations, pain, medicine, excitement, or surface materials.
Grammar and Usage
- Part of speech: phrasal verb
- Verb type: intransitive (no object directly after it)
Typical pattern:
- Something wears off
e.g., The pain wore off.
Common Phrases
- The effect wears off
- The excitement wears off
- The novelty wears off
- The pain wears off
- The medicine wears off
Collocations
- pain wears off
- medicine/drug wears off
- excitement wears off
- fatigue wears off
- anger wears off
Examples
- The pain will wear off in a few hours.
- Her excitement about the new job wore off after a month.
- The medicine is starting to wear off, and I feel dizzy again.
- The smell of paint wore off by the next morning.
- His enthusiasm wore off when the work became harder.
- The numbness from the dentist wore off slowly.
- The novelty of the gadget wore off quickly.
- The effect of the caffeine wore off by noon.
Synonyms or Related
- fade
- diminish
- subside
- die down
- weaken
Antonym
- intensify
- strengthen
- build up