WASTE OF TIME

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does waste of time mean? 

• WASTE OF TIME (noun)
  The noun WASTE OF TIME has 1 sense:

1. the devotion of time to a useless activity

  Familiarity information: WASTE OF TIME used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WASTE OF TIME (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The devotion of time to a useless activity

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

the waste of time could prove fatal

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

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

 Context examples 

Well, that's unfort'nate—appears as if killing parties was a waste of time.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

There was no delay, no waste of time.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

This is a farcical waste of time, but still, if nothing else will satisfy you, it shall be done.

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

He went back to the day he first attempted to write, and was appalled at the enormous waste of time—and all for ten words for a cent. And the other high rewards of writers, that he had read about, must be lies, too.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

"A new servitude! There is something in that," I soliloquised (mentally, be it understood; I did not talk aloud), I know there is, because it does not sound too sweet; it is not like such words as Liberty, Excitement, Enjoyment: delightful sounds truly; but no more than sounds for me; and so hollow and fleeting that it is mere waste of time to listen to them.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

She had had many a hint from Mr. Knightley and some from her own heart, as to her deficiency—but none were equal to counteract the persuasion of its being very disagreeable,—a waste of time—tiresome women—and all the horror of being in danger of falling in with the second-rate and third-rate of Highbury, who were calling on them for ever, and therefore she seldom went near them.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

I regret exceedingly that I cannot help you in this matter, and any continuation of this interview would be a waste of time.

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