worse for wear
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Damaged or deteriorated from use or experience
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
bị hư hỏng hoặc suy giảm từ sử dụng hoặc kinh nghiệm
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: in a poorer condition due to wear
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The old bike was worse for wear after the accident
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “worse for wear” mean?
Damaged or deteriorated from use or experience Literally: in a poorer condition due to wear
Is “worse for wear” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.