waste meaning and definition

WASTE noun

Definition of waste (noun)

1. any materials unused and rejected as worthless or unwanted
   • "they collect the waste once a week"; "much of the waste material is carried off in the sewers"
   • synonyms: waste material, waste matter, waste product
2. useless or profitless activity; using or expending or consuming thoughtlessly or carelessly
   • "if the effort brings no compensating gain it is a waste"; "mindless dissipation of natural resources"
   • synonyms: dissipation, wastefulness
3. the trait of wasting resources
   • "a life characterized by thriftlessness and waste"; "the wastefulness of missed opportunities"
   • synonyms: thriftlessness, wastefulness
4. an uninhabited wilderness that is worthless for cultivation
   • "the barrens of central Africa"; "the trackless wastes of the desert"
   • synonyms: barren, wasteland
5. (law) reduction in the value of an estate caused by act or neglect
   • synonyms: permissive waste

WASTE verb

Definition of waste (verb)

1. spend thoughtlessly; throw away
   • "He wasted his inheritance on his insincere friends"; "You squandered the opportunity to get and advanced degree"
   • synonyms: blow, squander
   • antonym: conserve
2. use inefficiently or inappropriately
   • "waste heat"; "waste a joke on an unappreciative audience"
3. get rid of
   • "We waste the dirty water by channeling it into the sewer"
4. run off as waste
   • "The water wastes back into the ocean"
   • synonyms: run off
5. get rid of (someone who may be a threat) by killing
   • "The mafia liquidated the informer"; "the double agent was neutralized"
   • synonyms: do in, knock off, liquidate, neutralise, neutralize
6. spend extravagantly
   • "waste not, want not"
   • synonyms: consume, squander, ware
7. lose vigor, health, or flesh, as through grief
   • "After her husband died, she just pined away"
   • synonyms: languish, pine away
8. cause to grow thin or weak
   • "The treatment emaciated him"
   • synonyms: emaciate, macerate
9. cause extensive destruction or ruin utterly
   • "The enemy lay waste to the countryside after the invasion"
   • synonyms: desolate, devastate, lay waste to, ravage, scourge
10. become physically weaker
    • "Political prisoners are wasting away in many prisons all over the world"
    • synonyms: rot

WASTE adjective

Definition of waste (adjective)

1. located in a dismal or remote area; desolate
   • "a desert island"; "a godforsaken wilderness crossroads"; "a wild stretch of land"; "waste places"
   • synonyms: godforsaken, wild