extenuado

Extenuado is a Spanish adjective and the past participle of the verb extenuar. It describes a state of being physically, mentally, or emotionally exhausted, drained of strength, or extremely tired. The term often implies a result of sustained effort or stress.

Etymology and meaning: Extenuar derives from Latin extenuare, meaning to lessen in strength or to debilitate. In Spanish, extenuado conveys a sense of extreme fatigue or weakening beyond ordinary tiredness. While synonymous with agotado or fatigado in many contexts, extenuado carries a nuance of overexertion or protracted strain.

Usage: Extenuado is commonly used in literature, journalism, and formal writing, as well as in everyday speech, to emphasize severe exhaustion. It can describe people after strenuous activity, illness, or prolonged tension. It is typically used with estar or as a predicative adjective: "El atleta estaba exténuado tras la carrera" or "El equipo quedó exténuado tras la larga gira." The term can also qualify things or situations that have been exhausted or overtaxed, though this sense is less frequent.

Relation to other terms: Extenuar is the corresponding verb meaning to exhaust, weaken, or overtax. Nouns related to the state include extinción is different in meaning; the noun for the process of tiring is extenuación. In English, exténúar translates as “to extenuate” in some false cognate senses, but the correct Spanish sense is to exhaust or debilitate, not to mitigate.

See also: exténuación, extenuación (process or act of weakening), exténuo (rare variant), agotado, fatigado.