WASTE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does waste mean? 

• WASTE (noun)
  The noun WASTE has 5 senses:

1. any materials unused and rejected as worthless or unwanted

2. useless or profitless activity; using or expending or consuming thoughtlessly or carelessly

3. the trait of wasting resources

4. an uninhabited wilderness that is worthless for cultivation

5. (law) reduction in the value of an estate caused by act or neglect

  Familiarity information: WASTE used as a noun is common.

• WASTE (adjective)
  The adjective WASTE has 1 sense:

1. located in a dismal or remote area; desolate

  Familiarity information: WASTE used as an adjective is very rare.

• WASTE (verb)
  The verb WASTE has 10 senses:

1. spend thoughtlessly; throw away

2. use inefficiently or inappropriately

3. get rid of

4. run off as waste

5. get rid of (someone who may be a threat) by killing

6. spend extravagantly

7. lose vigor, health, or flesh, as through grief

8. cause to grow thin or weak

9. cause extensive destruction or ruin utterly

10. become physically weaker

  Familiarity information: WASTE used as a verb is familiar.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WASTE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any materials unused and rejected as worthless or unwanted

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Synonyms:

waste; waste material; waste matter; waste product

Context example:

much of the waste material is carried off in the sewers

Hypernyms ("waste" is a kind of...):

material; stuff (the tangible substance that goes into the makeup of a physical object)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "waste"):

food waste; garbage; refuse; scraps (food that is discarded (as from a kitchen))

toxic industrial waste; toxic waste (poisonous waste materials; can cause injury (especially by chemical means))

slop ((usually plural) waste water from a kitchen or bathroom or chamber pot that has to be emptied by hand)

rubbish; scrap; trash (worthless material that is to be disposed of)

pollutant (waste matter that contaminates the water or air or soil)

effluent; sewer water; wastewater (water mixed with waste matter)

sewage; sewerage (waste matter carried away in sewers or drains)

crud; filth; skank (any substance considered disgustingly foul or unpleasant)

body waste; excrement; excreta; excretion; excretory product (waste matter (as urine or sweat but especially feces) discharged from the body)

exhaust; exhaust fumes; fumes (gases ejected from an engine as waste products)

dross; impurity (worthless or dangerous material that should be removed)

Derivation:

waste (run off as waste)

waste (get rid of)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Useless or profitless activity; using or expending or consuming thoughtlessly or carelessly

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

dissipation; waste; wastefulness

Context example:

mindless dissipation of natural resources

Hypernyms ("waste" is a kind of...):

activity (any specific behavior)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "waste"):

waste of effort; waste of energy (a useless effort)

waste of material (a useless consumption of material)

waste of money (money spent for inadequate return)

waste of time (the devotion of time to a useless activity)

extravagance; high life; highlife; lavishness; prodigality (excessive spending)

squandering (spending resources lavishly and wastefully)

boondoggle (work of little or no value done merely to look busy)

Derivation:

waste (use inefficiently or inappropriately)

waste (spend thoughtlessly; throw away)

waste (spend extravagantly)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The trait of wasting resources

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

thriftlessness; waste; wastefulness

Context example:

the wastefulness of missed opportunities

Hypernyms ("waste" is a kind of...):

improvidence; shortsightedness (a lack of prudence and care by someone in the management of resources)

Derivation:

waste (use inefficiently or inappropriately)

waste (spend thoughtlessly; throw away)

Sense 4

Meaning:

An uninhabited wilderness that is worthless for cultivation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

barren; waste; wasteland

Context example:

the trackless wastes of the desert

Hypernyms ("waste" is a kind of...):

wild; wilderness (a wild and uninhabited area left in its natural condition)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "waste"):

heath; heathland (a tract of level wasteland; uncultivated land with sandy soil and scrubby vegetation)

Derivation:

waste (located in a dismal or remote area; desolate)

Sense 5

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

permissive waste; waste

Hypernyms ("waste" is a kind of...):

act; deed; human action; human activity (something that people do or cause to happen)

Domain category:

jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)

• WASTE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Located in a dismal or remote area; desolate

Synonyms:

godforsaken; waste; wild

Context example:

waste places

Similar:

inhospitable (unfavorable to life or growth)

Derivation:

waste (an uninhabited wilderness that is worthless for cultivation)

• WASTE (verb)

Conjugation:

Sense 1

Meaning:

Spend thoughtlessly; throw away

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

blow; squander; waste

Context example:

You squandered the opportunity to get and advanced degree

Hypernyms (to "waste" is one way to...):

expend; use (use up, consume fully)

Verb group:

blow (spend lavishly or wastefully on)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "waste"):

burn (spend (significant amounts of money))

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Antonym:

conserve (use cautiously and frugally)

Derivation:

waste (useless or profitless activity; using or expending or consuming thoughtlessly or carelessly)

waste (the trait of wasting resources)

waster (someone who dissipates resources self-indulgently)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Use inefficiently or inappropriately

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Context example:

waste a joke on an unappreciative audience

Hypernyms (to "waste" is one way to...):

apply; employ; use; utilise; utilize (put into service; make work or employ for a particular purpose or for its inherent or natural purpose)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

waste (useless or profitless activity; using or expending or consuming thoughtlessly or carelessly)

waste (the trait of wasting resources)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Get rid of

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Context example:

We waste the dirty water by channeling it into the sewer

Hypernyms (to "waste" is one way to...):

cast aside; cast away; cast out; chuck out; discard; dispose; fling; put away; throw away; throw out; toss; toss away; toss out (throw or cast away)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

waste (any materials unused and rejected as worthless or unwanted)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Run off as waste

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

run off; waste

Context example:

The water wastes back into the ocean

Hypernyms (to "waste" is one way to...):

course; feed; flow; run (move along, of liquids)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Derivation:

waste (any materials unused and rejected as worthless or unwanted)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Get rid of (someone who may be a threat) by killing

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

do in; knock off; liquidate; neutralise; neutralize; waste

Context example:

the double agent was neutralized

Hypernyms (to "waste" is one way to...):

kill (cause to die; put to death, usually intentionally or knowingly)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

They want to waste the prisoners

Sense 6

Meaning:

Spend extravagantly

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Synonyms:

consume; squander; ware; waste

Context example:

waste not, want not

Hypernyms (to "waste" is one way to...):

drop; expend; spend (pay out)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "waste"):

drink; tope (drink excessive amounts of alcohol; be an alcoholic)

dissipate; fool; fool away; fritter; fritter away; frivol away; shoot (spend frivolously and unwisely)

luxuriate; wanton (become extravagant; indulge (oneself) luxuriously)

lavish; shower (expend profusely; also used with abstract nouns)

overspend (spend at a high rate)

fling; splurge (indulge oneself)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

waste (useless or profitless activity; using or expending or consuming thoughtlessly or carelessly)

waster (someone who dissipates resources self-indulgently)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Lose vigor, health, or flesh, as through grief

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

languish; pine away; waste

Context example:

After her husband died, she just pined away

Hypernyms (to "waste" is one way to...):

weaken (become weaker)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Derivation:

wastage (the process of wasting)

Sense 8

Meaning:

Cause to grow thin or weak

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

emaciate; macerate; waste

Context example:

The treatment emaciated him

Hypernyms (to "waste" is one way to...):

debilitate; drain; enfeeble (make weak)

Cause:

emaciate (grow weak and thin or waste away physically)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

wastage (the process of wasting)

wasting (any general reduction in vitality and strength of body and mind resulting from a debilitating chronic disease)

Sense 9

Meaning:

Cause extensive destruction or ruin utterly

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

desolate; devastate; lay waste to; ravage; scourge; waste

Context example:

The enemy lay waste to the countryside after the invasion

Hypernyms (to "waste" is one way to...):

destroy; ruin (destroy completely; damage irreparably)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "waste"):

ruin (reduce to ruins)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

waster (a person who destroys or ruins or lays waste to)

Sense 10

Meaning:

Become physically weaker

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

rot; waste

Context example:

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

Hypernyms (to "waste" is one way to...):

degenerate; deteriorate; devolve; drop (grow worse)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "waste"):

gangrene; mortify; necrose; sphacelate (undergo necrosis)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

wastage (the process of wasting)

 Context examples 

It was as if some strong anxiety had wasted it.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

"Then let us come at once," I cried, "we are wasting the precious, precious time!"

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

“I cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes,” he said.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

So that three days have been wasted.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

There were neither wharves nor houses on the melancholy waste of road near the great blank Prison.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I don't mean to waste your money, and I didn't think those little things would count up so.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

"It is a waste of energy to do anything else," growled Summerlee from behind his pipe.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He did not waste any time.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Yet in some ways I feel that yesterday has not been wasted.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

As a result, your muscles weaken and waste away.

(Neuromuscular Disorders, NIH)