idiom · informal
burn the candle at both ends
UK/bɜːn ðə ˈkændl æt bəʊθ ɛndz/US/bɜrn ðə ˈkændl æt boʊθ ɛndz/BURN·the·CAN·dle·at·BOTH·ENDS
to work or live at a very busy, tiring pace that harms your health
Examples
“She's been burning the candle at both ends studying and working part-time.”
“You can't keep burning the candle at both ends without getting ill.”
“He burned the candle at both ends during his final year and then took a month off.”
Band 8 sentence
“He burned the candle at both ends for months, juggling two jobs and a full-time course, so burnout was inevitable.”
Collocations
- keep burning the candle at both ends
- stop burning the candle at both ends
Word family
Common mistakes
burn the candle two ends→burn the candle at both ends
I burn the candle at both ends (as present simple for an action happening now)→I am burning the candle at both ends
đốt nến hai đầu (dịch đen trong tiếng Việt trong văn viết)→burn the candle at both ends = làm việc quá sức/kiệt sức vì cố làm nhiều việc
Say it for a higher band
5work late→6overwork→7+burn the candle at both ends
Synonyms
overwork
work to exhaustion
Easily confused
burn the midnight oil
“She burned the midnight oil to finish her dissertation.”
Related words
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In Health
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