Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective No longer successful or needed; finished.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective No longer capable, effective or needed; over the hill.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective doomed to extinction

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Castro and Ché may, indeed, be a source of inspiration for ignoramuses, washed-up ideologues, tendentious institutions, or people who still believe that he accomplished some "good things," much as Hitler "created jobs" or Mussolini "made the trains run on time" or Pinochet "saved Chile from communism" but it is shocking that the AP would sink this low to make a buck.

    Thor Halvorssen: More PR Shame: Associated Press Cooperates With Dictatorial Propaganda Machines Thor Halvorssen 2011

  • It hits every cliche about a washed-up country singer (Gwyneth Paltrow) hoping for a comeback and watching younger and perkier women hot on her trail (Leighton Meester).

    Michael Giltz: DVDs: Tracy and Hepburn -- The Greatest Screen Team Of All Time Michael Giltz 2011

  • It's not totally unlike the British turning to a washed-up, over-the-hill politician with a lot of baggage, named Winston Churchill, when their backs were to a different sort of wall in 1940.

    Why U.S. Needs Newt Gingrich Now 2011

  • Castro and Ché may, indeed, be a source of inspiration for ignoramuses, washed-up ideologues, tendentious institutions, or people who still believe that he accomplished some "good things," much as Hitler "created jobs" or Mussolini "made the trains run on time" or Pinochet "saved Chile from communism" but it is shocking that the AP would sink this low to make a buck.

    Thor Halvorssen: More PR Shame: Associated Press Cooperates With Dictatorial Propaganda Machines Thor Halvorssen 2011

  • And there are lots of other nice touches — for example, the amazing scenes of the washed-up wrestlers hawking VHS tapes at the American Legion hall, the parallels between pro wrestling that are never belabored or (so rarely in the age in which Aaron Sorkin is considerd a genius) theorized about by the characters.

    Matthew Yglesias » The Wrestler and Sports Movie Clichés 2009

  • Malasig/European Pressphoto Agency A flood victim recovered a washed-up log at a village that was devastated by rampaging flood waters on Tuesday in Iligan City, northern Mindanao, The Philippines.

    Asia in Pictures 2011

  • Chris Pratt is affecting as Scott Hatteberg, the washed-up catcher recycled by Billy, according to sabermetric precepts, into a valuable first-baseman.

    'Moneyball': Stars, Stats and Perfect Pitch Joe Morgenstern 2011

  • Dunaway is commanding in a caffeinated performance as ruthless Diana, William Holden unusually affecting as a washed-up veteran of TV's glory days, and Finch a revelation as the unbalanced Beale, winning a posthumous Oscar for his work.

    John Farr: Actor's Actor: A Birthday Salute to Robert Duvall John Farr 2012

  • Your correspondent Steven Bavaria ( Letters , Dec. 19) has it wrong about Winston Churchill, who was hardly a washed-up over-the-hill politician in the 1930s, though he did have baggage (Gallipoli), but none of a personal kind, and the British didn't turn to him in 1940.

    Churchill Was Never 'Washed Up' 2011

  • As Armageddon looms, two people stand up to Creel and his scheme: a rogue security agent who uses the single name of Shaw and a washed-up reporter, Katie James.

    2010 February 22 « One-Minute Book Reviews 2010

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