Done means finished or completed. When you're done with your homework, you've completed all the problems and closed your books. When dinner is done, the food has cooked long enough and is ready to eat. When a carpenter says the bookshelf is done, every piece has been cut, assembled, and sanded smooth.

The word carries a satisfying sense of completion. There's a difference between being almost done and actually done: almost done means you still have work ahead, while done means you can finally move on to something else. When you tell your mom, “I'm done!” after cleaning your room, you're declaring that the task is complete.

Done can also mean exhausted or finished in a more final way. A runner who collapses after a marathon might gasp, “I'm done” (meaning utterly spent). When someone says, “I'm done with this argument,” they mean they're finished participating and won't continue.

In cooking, done has a specific meaning about whether food has cooked long enough to be safe and tasty. A burger that's done is cooked through, while one that's not done might still be raw in the middle.

People sometimes say “easier said than done” when something sounds simple but turns out to be difficult in practice.