Word.ws English Dictionary

washed out

washed out adjective: very tired and lacking energy or animation. Also the simple past and past participle of wash out.

Adjective

washed out (comparative more washed out, superlative most washed out)

  1. (idiomatic) Very tired and lacking energy or animation.
    • I feel really washed out after all that gardening.
    • […] she distinctly saw someone go down your garden towards the river and disappear among the trees. She says she wasn't taking much notice of it at the time, because there was no reason why there should be anything wrong in that, and it being dark she didn't see a lot, and she was feeling pretty...1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries
  2. Of colours: faded, pale.
  3. (US) Synonym of washy (“tending to sweat profusely”).
    • a washed out horse
    Synonyms:
    washy

Also used as

washed out is also the simple past and past participle of wash out.

Synonyms of washed out

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Forms of washed out

comparativemore washed out
superlativemost washed out

Questions about washed out

What does washed out mean?
Washed out means very tired and lacking energy or animation.
What part of speech is washed out?
Washed out is an adjective.

Words near washed out in the dictionary

  1. washed one's dirty linen in public
  2. washed one's hands
  3. washed one's hands of
  4. washed one's mouth out
  5. washed oneself of
  6. washed out
  7. washed out one's mouth
  8. washed over
  9. washed up
  10. washed-out
  11. washed-up

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: washed out (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-washed out.ogg.

Cite this entry: “washed out.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/washed_out. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.