tire

tire — verb

1. to reach a point where your body has little strength left and wants to rest; or

1.verbtransitive / intransitiveB1
Definition

to reach a point where your body has little strength left and wants to rest; or to cause someone else to reach that point.

Example

After two hours of walking, Lien began to tire and sat on a fallen log.

intransitive: begin to tire

The long flight tired Diego, so he went straight to bed after checking in.

transitive: event + tired + person

Common collocations
  • tire quickly
  • tire easily
  • never tire
  • begin to tire
  • tire from
Synonyms
  • wear out

    more casual; suggests complete depletion of energy ('The kids wore out their parents')

  • exhaust

    stronger — to use up all energy, often to the point of collapse ('The marathon exhausted the runners')

  • fatigue

    more formal or clinical; suggests gradual drain ('The long illness fatigued him')

Antonyms
  • energize

    to give someone energy or enthusiasm ('A good breakfast energized her for the day')

  • refresh

    to restore energy or strength ('A short nap refreshed him')

Grammar Patterns

tire (intransitive)

tire + direct object (transitive)

Usage Note

Common in both transitive and intransitive patterns. The intransitive form ('X tires') means X's energy fades. The transitive form ('Y tires X') means Y causes X to feel weary. The passive form ('be tired by/of') is also frequent, though more common with the adjective 'tired' than the verb itself.

Common Mistakes

I tired from working all day.
I was tired from working all day.
The verb 'tire' is less common in everyday speech than the adjective 'tired'; say 'I was tired' or 'I got tired' for natural conversation.
The game tired me of playing.
The game tired me out.
Use 'tire out' for physical exhaustion, not 'tire of' (which means bored, not weary).

2. to lose interest or patience because something has gone on too long or feels dul

2.verbtransitive / intransitiveB2
Definition

to lose interest or patience because something has gone on too long or feels dull; to cause boredom in someone.

Example

After an hour of the lecture, Saira began to tire of the professor's slow explanations.

tire of + noun

The repetitive questions tired the witness, who started giving shorter answers.

transitive use for causing boredom

Common collocations
  • tire of
  • never tire of
  • quickly tire of
  • soon tire of
Synonyms
  • get bored with

    more common in everyday speech; less formal ('She got bored with the TV show')

  • lose interest in

    emphasises waning attention rather than annoyance ('He lost interest in stamp collecting')

  • weary of

    more formal or literary; suggests long-suffering patience running out ('The public wearied of the politician's promises')

Antonyms
  • engage

    to hold someone's attention ('The topic engaged the students for the whole class')

  • fascinate

    to strongly interest ('The documentary fascinated the audience')

Grammar Patterns

tire of + noun/-ing form

tire + direct object (transitive)

Usage Note

When used intransitively, this sense almost always appears with 'of' ('tire of something/someone'). The transitive form ('X tires Y') means X bores Y, not that X exhausts Y physically — though the boundary can be blurry in context. Distinguish from sense 1: if the subject wants to SLEEP, it is sense 1; if the subject wants to LEAVE or STOP PAYING ATTENTION, it is sense 2.

Common Mistakes

I tired of walking after three kilometres.
I began to tire of the lecture after twenty minutes.
'tire of' is about mental boredom or loss of patience, not physical tiredness.
She tired of him.' (when describing physical exhaustion)
She was tired from the long walk.
Use 'tired from' or 'tired out' for physical fatigue.
Phrasal verbs

tire out

phrasal verb

to make someone or something very tired, using up all their energy.

Christopher and Camille tired themselves out playing football in the park all afternoon.

The puppy tired itself out running after the ball in the garden.

tire of

phrasal verb

to start feeling bored or lose interest in someone or something after a period of time.

Emily soon tired of waiting for the bus and decided to walk home instead.

Even dedicated fans eventually tired of the singer repeating the same old songs.

Idioms

never tire of doing something

idiom

To repeatedly do something, often to the point of annoying others.

Grandma never tires of telling us stories about her childhood.

Does your boss never tire of checking your work every hour?

tire — noun

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

Tire is the most general verb for losing physical energy. It can describe mild weariness ('She tired after the short walk') and works both transitively and intransitively. Exhaust is much stronger — it means to use up all energy completely, often to the point of collapse ('The marathon exhausted the runners'). Its tone is more intense than tire. Wear out is the most casual option and suggests complete depletion through repeated use ('The children wore out their parents with constant demands'), often implying the result is final. Fatigue is formal or clinical, describing a gradual drain of energy over time ('The long illness fatigued him'), and appears often in medical writing ('eye fatigue', 'muscle fatigue'). In everyday conversation, native speakers usually say 'get tired' or 'feel tired' rather than using the verb 'tire,' but 'tire' is essential for formal, written, or concise contexts: 'The hike tired everyone' carries a crisp finality that 'made everyone tired' lacks.

tire ↗exhaust ↗wear out ↗fatigue ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • begin to tire
  • never seem to tire
  • tire of waiting

Prepositions

  • of (tire of)
  • from (tire from)

Etymology

Old English (verb: tēorian)Middle English (verb: tiren)Middle English (noun: tire, from attire)Modern English

The verb 'tire' comes from Old English 'tēorian,' meaning to fail or to lose strength — the same root that gave us 'tired.' Its origin before Old English is uncertain. The noun 'tire' (the rubber wheel covering) has a completely separate history: it is a shortened form of 'attire' (meaning clothing or covering), dating from the 15th century when iron hoops on carriage wheels were called 'tires.' When rubber pneumatic tyres were invented in the 19th century, the same word was used for the new invention. The British spelling 'tyre' became standard in the UK in the late 19th century, while American English kept 'tire.' The verb and noun are therefore homographs — two different words that happen to share the same spelling.