Something a white person gets when they spend the whole day fighting against racism in the United States of America (USA).
by minorichan May 27, 2020

Racial battle fatigue is a term coined by professor William A. Smith that refers to the cognitive, emotional and physiological effects of being a person of color in environments that are both implicitly and explicitly racist.
Basically, it is the ways that racism has a negative effect on the psychology and physiology of people of color.
Physiological symptoms of RBF: tension headaches, backaches, elevated heartbeat, rapid breathing in anticipation of conflict, upset stomach, extreme fatigue, loss of appetite, ulcers, elevated blood pressure. Psychological symptoms of RBF: constant anxiety and worrying, inability to sleep, sleep broken by haunting, conflict-specific dreams, intrusive thoughts and images, loss of self-confidence.
Basically, it is the ways that racism has a negative effect on the psychology and physiology of people of color.
Physiological symptoms of RBF: tension headaches, backaches, elevated heartbeat, rapid breathing in anticipation of conflict, upset stomach, extreme fatigue, loss of appetite, ulcers, elevated blood pressure. Psychological symptoms of RBF: constant anxiety and worrying, inability to sleep, sleep broken by haunting, conflict-specific dreams, intrusive thoughts and images, loss of self-confidence.
I can't go to that meeting with them White folks today, I'm struggling with Racial Battle Fatigue
We have to protect our students from Racial Battle Fatigue by connecting them with people who will love and support them
We have to protect our students from Racial Battle Fatigue by connecting them with people who will love and support them
by Ariel William Moore February 14, 2021

An increasingly common ailment across the United States, particularly with the gainfully employed.
Symptoms include the overwhelming urge to curse and yell "Really????" when reading almost any headline, or email bulletin from Human Resources.
The stress from the modern work environment may often cause suffers to consume alcohol, and or play the guitar at Volume 11.
Causes are well understood. The human brain is not hardwired to speak as the everything should be filtered through a "lawyer buffer". Those on earth that still have some sort of "Sense of Humor" find the modern work environment challenging. (Not the WORK part.....the EGGSHELLS part
Symptoms include the overwhelming urge to curse and yell "Really????" when reading almost any headline, or email bulletin from Human Resources.
The stress from the modern work environment may often cause suffers to consume alcohol, and or play the guitar at Volume 11.
Causes are well understood. The human brain is not hardwired to speak as the everything should be filtered through a "lawyer buffer". Those on earth that still have some sort of "Sense of Humor" find the modern work environment challenging. (Not the WORK part.....the EGGSHELLS part
by Killroy74 August 30, 2010

by Lou Lou Cat May 19, 2020

The feeling of irritation that develops when one is attempting to concentrate on a task and is repeatedly interrupted by another person who is scrolling through social media and wants to share something interesting they have come across.
Hubby kept sticking his phone in my face showing me funny cat videos on Instagram this morning while I was trying to fill out this week's production build spreadsheet for work, and now I have a serious case of look fatigue.
by Grenelda Thurber February 6, 2024

Where just **looking** at a task makes you tired, before you even attempt to actually exert any physical effort to perform said task.
During an after-school visit with my teenage "horse girl" chum, she had unwisely played afternoon-volleyball with her fellow high-school-girl students at the gym, even though she had a whole trailer-load of hay-bales parked in her family's driveway to unload and put away in the barn. So when we got back to her house and her weary brown eyes first caught sight of said heaped flatbed, she just kinda stood there and stared glumly at the cart with a helpless feeling of major retina fatigue... after all that strenuous sports-exertion that she'd just put out, she rrrreeeeeaaaallllyyyyy didn't feel up to lugging dozens of ponderous weighty hay-bales twenty yards from the wagon to the barn-loft! So we compromised --- I carried the bales from the cart to the barn, and she put them away. She "paid" me for my labors with a warm grateful hug each time I brought a bale to her, and then afterwards she sat wif me on the couch and let me give her a nice long foot-rub.
by QuacksO April 15, 2019

When your government refuses to remove particularly bad elements from your society, and even actively imports more of them or encourages them to act even worse, leading to an overwhelming sense of fatigue in the law-abiding and native populace. This is especially true when the bad element is a different color from everyone else.
by BigBoiDefinitionMaster September 6, 2025
