waste

/weist/
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Definition

  1. Noun:

    • Unwanted or unusable material: Substances or objects that are discarded because they are no longer useful or required.
    • A useless or profitless activity; an act of using something carelessly or extravagantly: An instance of spending or consuming thoughtlessly.
    • A large, empty, or desolate area: An expanse of land that is barren, uninhabited, or devastated.

  2. Verb:

    • To use or expend carelessly, extravagantly, or to no purpose: To spend something valuable in a way that is not effective or necessary.
    • To become progressively weaker and thinner, especially due to disease or grief: To decline in physical strength or vitality.
    • To cause severe and extensive damage to an area: To devastate or ruin.
    • To get rid of something as useless.

  3. Adjective:

    • Discarded as no longer useful or required: Referring to unwanted by-products or materials.
    • Desolate or barren: Describing land that is uncultivated, uninhabited, or ruined.
Examples of Usage

  • Noun:

    • The factory produces a lot of chemical waste. (Referring to unwanted material.)
    • Watching that movie was a complete waste of time. (Referring to a useless activity.)
    • They traveled across the frozen wastes of the Arctic. (Referring to a desolate area.)

  • Verb:

    • Don't waste water by leaving the tap running. (To use carelessly.)
    • He began to waste away after the illness. (To become weaker.)
    • The invading army laid waste to the villages. (To devastate.)
    • The plant wastes its by-products into the river. (To get rid of as useless.)

  • Adjective:

    • Please put the waste paper in the recycling bin. (Discarded material.)
    • They built a house on a waste piece of land. (Barren or unused land.)
Advanced Usage

  • "To go to waste": To be unused and therefore spoiled or lost.

    • It's a shame to let all this good food go to waste.

  • "A waste of space" (Idiomatic): A person or thing considered completely useless or ineffective.

    • That old sofa is just a waste of space in the living room.

  • "Waste not, want not" (Proverb): If you do not waste anything, you will always have enough.

    • My grandmother always saved everything, believing in 'waste not, want not'.
Variants and Related Words

  • Wastage (n): The amount of something that is wasted.

    • The wastage of materials in the process is very high.

  • Wasteful (adj): Using or expending something carelessly and extravagantly.

    • Leaving lights on is a wasteful habit.

  • Wasteland (n): An area of land that is barren or uncultivated.

    • The project aims to turn the industrial wasteland into a park.
Synonyms
  • Squander (v): To waste something, especially money or time, in a reckless or foolish manner.
  • Refuse (n): Matter thrown away as worthless; trash.
  • Desolate (adj): Deserted of people and in a state of bleak emptiness.
Related Phrasal Verbs

  • Waste away: To gradually become thinner and weaker, usually due to illness.

    • She wasted away in the final stages of the disease.

  • Waste on: To use something valuable for a person or purpose that does not appreciate or deserve it.

    • Don't waste your advice on him; he never listens.
Related Idioms

  • Lay waste to: To completely destroy or devastate an area.

    • The fire laid waste to the entire forest.

  • Haste makes waste: Acting too quickly can lead to mistakes that cause you to waste time or resources.

    • Take your time with the wiring. Remember, haste makes 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
Noun
  1. (law) reduction in the value of an estate caused by act or neglect
  2. an uninhabited wilderness that is worthless for cultivation
    • the barrens of central Africa
    • the trackless wastes of the desert
  3. the trait of wasting resources
    • a life characterized by thriftlessness and waste
    • the wastefulness of missed opportunities
  4. 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
  5. 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
Verb
  1. become physically weaker
    • Political prisoners are wasting away in many prisons all over the world
  2. cause extensive destruction or ruin utterly
    • The enemy lay waste to the countryside after the invasion
  3. cause to grow thin or weak
    • The treatment emaciated him
  4. lose vigor, health, or flesh, as through grief
    • After her husband died, she just pined away
  5. spend extravagantly
    • waste not, want not
  6. get rid of (someone who may be a threat) by killing
    • The mafia liquidated the informer
    • the double agent was neutralized
  7. run off as waste
    • The water wastes back into the ocean
  8. get rid of
    • We waste the dirty water by channeling it into the sewer
  9. use inefficiently or inappropriately
    • waste heat
    • waste a joke on an unappreciative audience
  10. spend thoughtlessly; throw away
    • He wasted his inheritance on his insincere friends
    • You squandered the opportunity to get and advanced degree

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