Fatigue Happens to Metal as Well as to People
Fatigue is deep tiredness. Engineers use the same word for metal that cracks after repeated stress, and the two meanings explain each other.
Fatigue is tiredness that rest does not immediately fix. Engineering borrowed the word with precision: metal fatigue is failure caused not by one big load but by many small ones repeated. That is a fair description of the human version too.
- Extreme tiredness. *Fatigue set in after the third day.*
- Weakness in a material from repeated stress. *Metal fatigue.*
- Loss of response to repetition. *Alert fatigue.*
- Fatigues — military work clothing. *Combat fatigues.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | fatigue | Chronic fatigue. |
| Verb | fatigue | The march fatigued them. |
| Adjective | fatigued | Badly fatigued. |
| Adjective | fatiguing | A fatiguing journey. |
| Plural | fatigues | Wearing fatigues. |
How it is used in a sentence
- Driver fatigue causes a fifth of motorway crashes.A standard term in road safety.
- The wing failed through metal fatigue.Failure from repeated cycles.
- Donor fatigue set in after the third appeal.Fatigue extended to willingness.
Fatigue compounds worth knowing
- Chronic fatigue — long-lasting exhaustion with medical causes
- Compassion fatigue — worn down by others' suffering
- Alert fatigue — ignoring warnings because there are too many
- Decision fatigue — worse choices late in a long day
- Metal fatigue — the engineering original
From French *fatigue*, from Latin *fatigare*, to weary. The engineering sense dates from the nineteenth century, when railway axles began breaking without any obvious overload.
Fatigue or tiredness?
Tiredness is everyday and rest cures it. Fatigue is heavier, lasts longer, and is the word used in medicine and safety reports.
Why are army clothes called fatigues?
From fatigue duty, the routine manual work soldiers did outside drill. The clothes worn for it took the name.