wipe out

2 meanings

Meanings
  1. 1 destroy or kill a large number of people, animals, or things B2
  2. 2 make someone feel very tired (informal) B2
1 wipe sb/sth out

destroy or kill a large number of people, animals, or things

B2

What does "wipe out" mean in this sense?

To wipe out something means to destroy or eliminate it so completely that nothing remains. It carries a strong sense of totality — whatever is wiped out is gone entirely, not just reduced or damaged. The phrase appears across a wide range of contexts: a disease can wipe out a population, an economic crash can wipe out savings, and a competitor can wipe out a rival company. This emphasis on completeness is what sets it apart from simply saying 'destroy', which doesn't always imply that everything is lost. It's neutral in tone and appears in news articles, history books, and everyday conversation alike.

Examples

How to use it

wipe out + object

The most common structure, used when the object is a noun phrase describing what is completely destroyed or eliminated.

The volcanic eruption wiped out several farming communities in the valley.

wipe + pronoun + out

When the object is a pronoun, it must always go between 'wipe' and 'out' — it cannot follow 'out'.

Those invasive fish spread so rapidly that they almost wiped them out within a decade.

wipe + short noun phrase + out

Short noun phrases can also be placed between 'wipe' and 'out', which is a natural alternative to the unseparated form.

The financial crisis wiped the firm's profits out almost overnight.

be wiped out (by + cause)

The passive form is very common, especially in journalism and historical writing, when the focus is on what was destroyed rather than what caused the destruction.

Dozens of ancient ruins were wiped out by the flooding before they could be properly documented.

wipe out + abstract object

Used with abstract nouns like savings, gains, progress, or records to describe something being completely eliminated in financial or figurative contexts.

A single bad quarter wiped out all the gains the portfolio had made over the previous year.

Common Collocations

wipe out a specieswipe out the competitionwipe out savingswipe out a villagewipe out a diseasewipe out an army

Common Mistakes

Pronoun placement

Pronoun objects like 'it' or 'them' must go between 'wipe' and 'out', never after 'out'. This is a very common error.

✗ The pesticide nearly wiped out them completely.
✓ The pesticide nearly wiped them out completely.
Confusing with 'wipe off'

'Wipe off' refers to removing something from a surface by wiping, while 'wipe out' means to destroy or eliminate completely. If your sentence is about cleaning a surface, 'wipe out' is the wrong choice.

✗ She wiped out the ink stain from the whiteboard.
✓ She wiped off the ink stain from the whiteboard.
Confusing with 'stamp out'

'Stamp out' suggests a gradual, deliberate effort to eliminate something harmful — like a policy campaign. 'Wipe out' emphasises sudden or total destruction. They aren't always interchangeable.

✗ The government hopes to stamp out the rainforest with new development projects.
✓ The government's development projects could wipe out large areas of rainforest.

Usage

This phrasal verb is neutral in register and appears in both spoken and written English, from news articles to everyday conversation. Note that 'wiped out' can also mean exhausted (informal), so context is important.

2 wipe sb out

make someone feel very tired (informal)

B2

Sense 2: What does "wipe sb out" mean?

To wipe someone out means to leave them feeling completely and utterly exhausted, usually after a single intense activity or event. It captures that feeling of having nothing left — physically or mentally — after something demanding like a long hike, a tough training session, or a stressful day at work. What makes this phrasal verb distinctive is that the exhaustion feels sudden and total, hitting you all at once rather than building up gradually. It is informal and most at home in spoken English or casual writing, and it almost always describes people rather than things. You will often hear it paired with intensifiers like 'completely', 'totally', or 'absolutely' to emphasise just how drained someone feels.

Examples

How to use it

subject + wipe + pronoun + out

The most common pattern, used when the object is a pronoun — the pronoun must go between 'wipe' and 'out', never after.

That double shift completely wiped me out — I fell asleep on the sofa.

be/feel wiped out

Used as a predicate adjective after 'be' or 'feel' to describe a state of total exhaustion, often with an intensifier.

I'm absolutely wiped out after that long flight — I need to sleep for a week.

subject + wipe + noun object + out

When the object is a short noun phrase, it can go between 'wipe' and 'out', which is the preferred word order.

The afternoon hike in the heat wiped the whole group out.

subject + wipe out + longer noun object

When the noun object is longer or more complex, keeping it after 'out' sounds more natural than splitting the phrasal verb.

The weekend of moving furniture wiped out everyone who helped.

be wiped out + by-phrase

The passive is natural and common, often used to focus on the cause of the exhaustion rather than the person experiencing it.

She was totally wiped out by the back-to-back exams at the end of term.

Common Collocations

long shifttraining sessionlong dayjet lagbusy weekmarathon

Common Mistakes

Pronoun after the particle

When the object is a pronoun, it must go between 'wipe' and 'out'. Placing it after 'out' is ungrammatical in English.

✗ That training session wiped out me completely.
✓ That training session completely wiped me out.
Confusing with 'burn out'

'Wipe out' describes sudden, intense exhaustion from one specific event, while 'burn out' refers to long-term exhaustion caused by ongoing stress or overwork. Use 'wipe out' for a single tough experience, not for months of chronic tiredness.

✗ After years of working 70-hour weeks, he was completely wiped out and lost all motivation.
✓ After years of working 70-hour weeks, he burned out and lost all motivation.
Using it with a non-human or non-personal object

In this sense, 'wipe out' must have a person as its object. Using it with a population, species, or abstract entity switches the meaning to 'destroy completely', which is a different sense entirely.

✗ The drought wiped out the crops. (This means 'destroyed', not 'exhausted'.)
✓ The long harvest season wiped out the farmworkers.

Usage

This is an informal expression, most natural in spoken English and casual writing. It is often strengthened with intensifiers like 'completely' or 'totally': 'That hike completely wiped me out.'

Frequently Asked Questions

Can 'wipe out' be used in the passive?

Yes, and it's actually very common in the passive form. You'll often see 'wiped out' in news articles and history books when the focus is on what was destroyed rather than what caused it. For example: 'The ancient settlement was wiped out by a series of floods.'

Does 'wipe out' always mean destruction? I've heard it used differently.

No — 'wipe out' has more than one meaning. In this sense it means to destroy completely, but in informal speech it can also mean to exhaust someone ('That hike wiped me out'). There's also a slang use in sports like surfing, meaning to fall or crash. Context usually makes it clear which sense is meant.

Can I use 'wipe out' in the present continuous — for example, 'is wiping out'?

It's possible but less natural for most situations. The present continuous works only when you want to describe an active, ongoing destruction process, such as 'Deforestation is wiping out habitat across the region.' For completed or general actions, the simple past or present perfect sounds more natural.

What kinds of things can be 'wiped out'? Is it only living things?

Not at all — the range is quite broad. Living things like species, populations, and communities are common objects, but so are abstract things like savings, profits, gains, records, and even memories. The key idea is that whatever is wiped out is gone completely, whether it's something physical or something more abstract.

Is 'wipe out' stronger than just saying 'destroy'?

Yes, slightly. 'Wipe out' emphasises totality — it strongly implies that nothing survives or remains. 'Destroy' alone doesn't always carry that sense of complete elimination. If you want to stress that something was completely gone, 'wipe out' is the more emphatic choice.

Does 'wipe out' always mean the same thing?

No — 'wipe out' has more than one meaning in English. This sense means to make someone extremely tired. The same form can also mean to destroy or eliminate something completely, which is a separate meaning handled elsewhere on this page.

Can I use intensifiers like 'completely' or 'totally' with 'wipe out'?

Yes, and it's actually very common and natural to do so. Words like 'completely', 'totally', 'absolutely', and 'utterly' pair especially well with this phrasal verb and make it sound even more fluent and native. You can place them before the object in a separated construction: 'It completely wiped me out.'

Can 'wiped out' be used on its own as an adjective?

Yes — 'wiped out' is very commonly used after verbs like 'be' or 'feel' to describe a state of exhaustion: 'I feel totally wiped out' or 'She was completely wiped out'. This is one of the most natural ways to use this phrasal verb in everyday conversation.

Is it natural to use 'wipe out' in the present continuous, like 'it's wiping me out'?

It's grammatically possible but sounds a little awkward in this sense. Learners tend to get better results using the simple past ('it wiped me out'), the present perfect ('it has wiped me out'), or the adjective form ('I'm wiped out'). These tenses fit the meaning of sudden, complete exhaustion much more naturally.

Can I use 'wipe out' in formal writing?

It's best to avoid it in formal or professional writing, as it's an informal expression most at home in conversation, texts, and casual emails. In a formal context, you'd be better off with a word like 'exhaust' or 'fatigue'.

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