Definitions for waste

Definitions for (noun) waste

Main entry: waste, wastefulness, dissipation

Definition: useless or profitless activity; using or expending or consuming thoughtlessly or carelessly

Usage: if the effort brings no compensating gain it is a waste; mindless dissipation of natural resources


Main entry: waste, permissive waste

Definition: (law) reduction in the value of an estate caused by act or neglect


Main entry: waste, wastefulness, thriftlessness

Definition: the trait of wasting resources

Usage: a life characterized by thriftlessness and waste; the wastefulness of missed opportunities


Main entry: waste, wasteland, barren

Definition: an uninhabited wilderness that is worthless for cultivation

Usage: the barrens of central Africa; the trackless wastes of the desert


Main entry: waste, waste material, waste matter, waste product

Definition: any materials unused and rejected as worthless or unwanted

Usage: they collect the waste once a week; much of the waste material is carried off in the sewers


Definitions for (verb) waste

Main entry: rot, waste

Definition: become physically weaker

Usage: Political prisoners are wasting away in many prisons all over the world


Main entry: desolate, devastate, scourge, lay waste to, ravage, waste

Definition: cause extensive destruction or ruin utterly

Usage: The enemy lay waste to the countryside after the invasion


Main entry: emaciate, waste, macerate

Definition: cause to grow thin or weak

Usage: The treatment emaciated him


Main entry: languish, pine away, waste

Definition: lose vigor, health, or flesh, as through grief

Usage: After her husband died, she just pined away


Main entry: consume, squander, waste, ware

Definition: spend extravagantly

Usage: waste not, want not


Main entry: waste

Definition: use inefficiently or inappropriately

Usage: waste heat; waste a joke on an unappreciative audience


Main entry: neutralise, neutralize, do in, waste, knock off, liquidate

Definition: get rid of (someone who may be a threat) by killing

Usage: The mafia liquidated the informer; the double agent was neutralized


Main entry: waste, run off

Definition: run off as waste

Usage: The water wastes back into the ocean


Main entry: waste

Definition: get rid of

Usage: We waste the dirty water by channeling it into the sewer


Main entry: waste, squander, blow

Definition: spend thoughtlessly; throw away

Usage: He wasted his inheritance on his insincere friends; You squandered the opportunity to get and advanced degree


Definitions for (adj) waste

Main entry: waste, wild, godforsaken

Definition: located in a dismal or remote area; desolate

Usage: a desert island; a godforsaken wilderness crossroads; a wild stretch of land; waste places


Visual thesaurus for waste