burn the candle at both ends

VERB

do too much

Synonyms

WEAK

bite off more than one can chew go to extremes go too far keep one's nose to the grindstone overdo overextend oneself slave spread oneself too thin stay on the treadmill take on too much

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Because we can, because we're young, we push ourselves too hard, we burn the candle at both ends, she said, which created problems that arose when people where in their 50s.

From BBC • Jan. 19, 2026

One thinks of what a journalist wrote about another hard-living star: “Keith Richards doesn’t so much burn the candle at both ends as apply a blow torch to the middle.”

From Washington Post • May 18, 2021

I certainly know what it is like to burn the candle at both ends.

From New York Times • Aug. 25, 2018

In a LinkedIn post last year, The Huffington Post president and editor-in-chief Arianna Huffington revealed that she’s often asked if young people pursuing their dreams should burn the candle at both ends?

From Time • Jul. 24, 2015

It is also wretched economy to burn the candle at both ends every day.

From The Secret of a Happy Home (1896) by Harland, Marion