Definitions

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

  • adjective Showing the effects of worry, anxiety, or burdensome responsibility.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Worn, oppressed, or burdened with care; showing marks of care or anxiety: as, he was weary and care-worn; a care-worn countenance.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Worn or burdened with care.

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

  • adjective Showing the signs of long-term stresses.

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

  • adjective showing the wearing effects of overwork or care or suffering

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

care + worn

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Examples

  • “He does repent,” she said to herself, recalling the careworn face.

    Red Pottage 2004

  • "He does repent," she said to herself, recalling the careworn face.

    Red Pottage Mary Cholmondeley 1892

  • "You look --" began Constance -- but "careworn" was a risky term and she stopped.

    Kincaid's Battery George Washington Cable 1884

  • Though the Head Boy of our year still looks cherubic, if a little careworn.

    President Kaczyński burkesworks 2010

  • One of them opened the door for Gideon, who entered a large conference room, where President Diggs was talking quietly to a plain but pleasant-faced man in his sixties with the jowly, careworn expression of a hound dog.

    Gideon’s war Howard Gordon 2011

  • One of them opened the door for Gideon, who entered a large conference room, where President Diggs was talking quietly to a plain but pleasant-faced man in his sixties with the jowly, careworn expression of a hound dog.

    Gideon’s war Howard Gordon 2011

  • The one she had addressed as "daughter" was a careworn woman of forty, proprietress and waitress of the house.

    COFFEE-HOUSES AND DOSS-HOUSES 2010

  • But Mr. Kubrick makes the coda work—with Mr. Krause's camera locking onto a host of careworn faces as beasts transform into men while listening to the girl's halting version of a sentimental ballad.

    A Great Film's Sadly Timeless Message David Mermelstein 2011

  • He stood there dazed and unheeding, his bonny brown hair rumpled down his forehead, his face haggard and careworn and boyish still.

    SUICIDE 2010

  • The next morning we found him dead in his bed, a peaceful smile upon his careworn face — asphyxiation.

    The Minions of Midas 2010

Comments

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  • "I looked up and noticed that the horse and rider had just passed the young woman. The rider was a tall man with distinguished features and a careworn face, bent into a frown by some musings that seemed to envelop him in thoughtful detachment."

    - Jasper Fforde, 'The Eyre Affair'.

    October 27, 2008

  • My favorite of the Carebears.

    October 28, 2008

  • PROFESSOR

    Yes, there's -- there's a woman -- she's....

    ...she's wearing a polka-dot dress....

    ...her face is careworn.

    June 9, 2010

  • "This remarkable, one-of-a-kind actress has, since the early 1990s, intrigued film and TV audiences with her glowing, yet careworn eccentricity and old world-styled glamour. Very much in demand these days as a character player, Patricia Clarkson nevertheless continues to avoid the temptation of money-making mainstream filming while reaping kudos and acting awards in out-of-the-way projects." --bio of Patricia Clarkson for IMDb

    July 5, 2021