wear and tear

Definition

Damage or depreciation resulting from ordinary use (normally as something excluded from a guarantee or warranty of quality, or as justifying a write-down in a set of accounts).

Example Sentences

• "The washing machine flooded the basement due to wear and tear, so Margaret was not eligible for insurance."
• "The main obstacles to increasing traffic, in fact, are the heavy gradients and sharp curves on the approaches to the Gotthard Tunnel. Wear-and-tear of the track necessitates frequent attention by the civil engineers and possessions are hard to obtain without reducing the throughput of trains."