waste Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun any materials unused and rejected as worthless or unwanted
    waste material; waste matter; waste product.
    • they collect the waste once a week
    • much of the waste material is carried off in the sewers
  2. noun useless or profitless activity; using or expending or consuming thoughtlessly or carelessly
    dissipation; wastefulness.
    • if the effort brings no compensating gain it is a waste
    • mindless dissipation of natural resources
  3. noun the trait of wasting resources
    thriftlessness; wastefulness.
    • a life characterized by thriftlessness and waste
    • the wastefulness of missed opportunities
  4. noun an uninhabited wilderness that is worthless for cultivation
    barren; wasteland.
    • the barrens of central Africa
    • the trackless wastes of the desert
  5. noun (law) reduction in the value of an estate caused by act or neglect
    permissive waste.
  6. verb spend thoughtlessly; throw away
    blow; squander.
    • He wasted his inheritance on his insincere friends
    • You squandered the opportunity to get and advanced degree
  7. verb use inefficiently or inappropriately
    • waste heat
    • waste a joke on an unappreciative audience
  8. verb get rid of
    • We waste the dirty water by channeling it into the sewer
  9. verb run off as waste
    run off.
    • The water wastes back into the ocean
  10. verb get rid of (someone who may be a threat) by killing
    knock off; neutralize; liquidate; do in; neutralise.
    • The mafia liquidated the informer
    • the double agent was neutralized
  11. verb spend extravagantly
    ware; consume; squander.
    • waste not, want not
  12. verb lose vigor, health, or flesh, as through grief
    pine away; languish.
    • After her husband died, she just pined away
  13. verb cause to grow thin or weak
    macerate; emaciate.
    • The treatment emaciated him
  14. verb cause extensive destruction or ruin utterly
    desolate; devastate; scourge; lay waste to; ravage.
    • The enemy lay waste to the countryside after the invasion
  15. verb become physically weaker
    rot.
    • Political prisoners are wasting away in many prisons all over the world
  16. adjective satellite located in a dismal or remote area; desolate
    wild; godforsaken.
    • a desert island
    • a godforsaken wilderness crossroads
    • a wild stretch of land
    • waste places

WordNet

Waste adjective
Etymology
OE. wast, OF. wast, from L. vastus, influenced by the kindred German word; cf. OHG. wuosti, G. wüst, OS. wsti, D. woest, AS. weste. Cf. Vast.
Definitions
  1. Desolate; devastated; stripped; bare; hence, dreary; dismal; gloomy; cheerless.
    The dismal situation waste and wild. Milton.
    His heart became appalled as he gazed forward into the waste darkness of futurity. Sir W. Scott.
  2. Lying unused; unproductive; worthless; valueless; refuse; rejected; as, waste land; waste paper.
    But his waste words returned to him in vain. Spenser.
    Not a waste or needless sound, Till we come to holier ground. Milton.
    Ill day which made this beauty waste. Emerson.
  3. Lost for want of occupiers or use; superfluous.
    And strangled with her waste fertility. Milton.
Waste transitive verb
Etymology
OE. wasten, OF. waster, guaster, gaster, F. gâter to spoil, L. vastare to devastate, to lay waste, fr. vastus waste, desert, uncultivated, ravaged, vast, but influenced by a kindred German word; cf. OHG. wuosten, G. wüsten, AS. westan. See Waste, a.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Wasted; present participle & verbal noun Wasting
Definitions
  1. To bring to ruin; to devastate; to desolate; to destroy.
    Thou barren ground, whom winter's wrath hath wasted, Art made a mirror to behold my plight. Spenser.
    The Tiber Insults our walls, and wastes our fruitful grounds. Dryden.
  2. To wear away by degrees; to impair gradually; to diminish by constant loss; to use up; to consume; to spend; to wear out.
    Until your carcasses be wasted in the wilderness. Num. xiv. 33.
    O, were I able To waste it all myself, and leave ye none! Milton.
    Here condemned To waste eternal days in woe and pain. Milton.
    Wasted by such a course of life, the infirmities of age daily grew on him. Robertson.
  3. To spend unnecessarily or carelessly; to employ prodigally; to expend without valuable result; to apply to useless purposes; to lavish vainly; to squander; to cause to be lost; to destroy by scattering or injury.
    The younger son gathered all together, and . . . wasted his substance with riotous living. Luke xv. 13.
    Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, And waste its sweetness on the desert air. Gray.
  4. (Law) To damage, impair, or injure, as an estate, voluntarily, or by suffering the buildings, fences, etc., to go to decay. Syn. -- To squander; dissipate; lavish; desolate.
Waste intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To be diminished; to lose bulk, substance, strength, value, or the like, gradually; to be consumed; to dwindle; to grow less.
    The time wasteth night and day. Chaucer.
    The barrel of meal shall not waste. 1 Kings xvii. 14.
    But man dieth, and wasteth away. Job xiv. 10.
  2. (Sporting) To procure or sustain a reduction of flesh; -- said of a jockey in preparation for a race, etc.
Waste noun
Etymology
OE. waste; cf. the kindred AS. wsten, OHG. wsti, wuosti, G. wüste. See Waste, a. & v.
Definitions
  1. The act of wasting, or the state of being wasted; a squandering; needless destruction; useless consumption or expenditure; devastation; loss without equivalent gain; gradual loss or decrease, by use, wear, or decay; as, a waste of property, time, labor, words, etc. "Waste . . . of catel and of time." Chaucer.
    For all this waste of wealth loss of blood. Milton.
    He will never . . . in the way of waste, attempt us again. Shak.
    Little wastes in great establishments, constantly occurring, may defeat the energies of a mighty capital. L. Beecher.
  2. That which is wasted or desolate; a devastated, uncultivated, or wild country; a deserted region; an unoccupied or unemployed space; a dreary void; a desert; a wilderness. "The wastes of Nature." Emerson.
    All the leafy nation sinks at last, And Vulcan rides in triumph o'er the waste. Dryden.
    The gloomy waste of waters which bears his name is his tomb and his monument. Bancroft.
  3. That which is of no value; worthless remnants; refuse. Specifically: Remnants of cops, or other refuse resulting from the working of cotton, wool, hemp, and the like, used for wiping machinery, absorbing oil in the axle boxes of railway cars, etc.
  4. (Law) Spoil, destruction, or injury, done to houses, woods, fences, lands, etc., by a tenant for life or for years, to the prejudice of the heir, or of him in reversion or remainder. ✍ Waste is voluntary, as by pulling down buildings; or permissive, as by suffering them to fall for want of necessary repairs. Whatever does a lasting damage to the freehold is a waste. Blackstone.
  5. (Mining) Old or abandoned workings, whether left as vacant space or filled with refuse. Syn. -- Prodigality; diminution; loss; dissipation; destruction; devastation; havoc; desolation; ravage.

Webster 1913