What does wore mean?
Wore is the simple past tense and past participle of the English verb wear. In its most familiar sense, it describes wearing clothing, footwear, jewelry, or another accessory: someone wore a suit to work or wore boots in heavy rain. The word can also describe gradual deterioration or exhaustion, as in “the stone wore away” or “the children wore themselves out.” Because wear is an irregular verb, wore must be learned alongside its related forms wearing and worn. Wore is therefore more specific than wear: wear names the general action, while wore identifies a completed or past occurrence. Its history connects modern English with Old English and other Germanic languages, and its changing meanings make it a useful example of how a familiar verb can extend beyond its literal use.
verbWore is the simple past tense and past participle of wear. It means to have put on clothing, footwear, or an accessory, and can also refer to becoming diminished or exhausted through use.
- Wore means put on or had on clothing, footwear, jewelry, or another accessory.
- Wore away or wore through means to become diminished, damaged, or used up through continued use or exposure.
- Wore out means to become exhausted, tired, or worn down.
"She wore a warm wool coat to the ceremony."
"The hikers wore waterproof jackets because the weather was stormy."
"The old rope wore through after years of exposure to the elements."
From wear to wore to worn, one irregular verb moves from putting on clothes to showing the marks of use—and even wearing someone out.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does wore come from?
Wore is an inflected form of wear, which descends from Old English werian, meaning “to wear” or “to clothe.” The verb belongs to a Germanic family that also includes related English words such as ware and wary. Its modern past form developed through the regular historical inflection of the verb rather than through a separate word.
Related word forms
How wore is actually used
Wore is the past tense and past participle of the irregular verb wear; the corresponding -ing form is wearing and the other past-participle form is worn. Its meaning is not limited to clothing, since wear can also describe deterioration, erosion, and exhaustion.
Easily confused with wore
Wear is the base verb, while wore is its past tense and past participle: one wears clothing in general and wore clothing at a particular time.