"burnt/burned out" vs. "frazzled" to describe a person

Solution 1:

If you are burned out then it is implied that you have a longstanding issue that is causing you to have apathy. There is a connotation of a pretty long history of conflict or issues causing the burned out person to under perform. People are often burned out by doing repetitive tasks.

If you are frazzled then that means that something about a particular situation caused you to be (usually mentally) exhausted. It is assumed that a person cannot think straight while they are frazzled. Something is invoking them to shut down. This could last for just a moment to some short-term period.

I personally don't see the words as interchangeable. They have distinctly different meanings.

Usage: "I have been working at this factory for 5 years, doing the same thing every day. I am so burned out."

Usage: "When I went to meet with my boss about my raise, his hot secretary was in the meeting with us. I was so frazzled that I didn't even bring the raise up."

So you can see just from the examples that burned out has more of a negative meaning while I think frazzled can really go either way. Burned out can be compared to being worn down and frazzled can just be really nervous, out of it, or just not able to think because of emotions. You could be frazzled around someone because of hatred but that is just one of many reasons the term could be used.

Being nervous is Merriam-Webster's focus on frazzled and on burned out it is overworked or overused.

Solution 2:

Burnout is a feeling of being overworked and is a generally accepted definition for overworking which can include symptoms such as:

• Feeling tired and drained most of the time
• Lowered immunity, feeling sick a lot
• Frequent headaches, back pain, muscle aches
• Change in appetite or sleep habits

(More can be found here if you are truly interested)

Whereas frazzled is a synonym for stress. Stress is a pre-cursor to burnout as is explained in the article.