Waste

English

Noun

Waste (countable and uncountable; plural Wastes)

A waste land; an uninhabited desolate region; a wilderness.
A place that has been laid waste or destroyed.
A large tract of uncultivated land.
A vast expanse of water.
A disused mine or part of one.
The action or progress of wasting; extravagant consumption or ineffectual use.
Large abundance of something, especially without it being used.
Gradual loss or decay.
A decaying of the body by disease; wasting away.
(rare) Destruction or devastation caused by war or natural disasters; See "to lay waste"
Excess of material, useless by-products or damaged, unsaleable products; garbage; rubbish.
Excrement (animal waste, human waste).
(law) A cause of action which may be brought by the owner of a future interest in property against the current owner of that property to prevent the current owner from degrading the value or character of the property, either intentionally or through neglect.

Adjective

Waste (comparative more Waste, superlative most Waste)

(now rare) Uncultivated, uninhabited.
Barren; desert.
Rejected as being defective; eliminated as being worthless; produced in excess.
Superfluous; needless.
Unfortunate; Disappointing.

Verb

Waste (third-person singular simple present wastes, present participle wasting, simple past and past participle wasted)

(transitive, now rare) To devastate or destroy.
(transitive) Use up, diminish, reduce by gradual loss; decay; emaciate.
(transitive) Squander money or resources uselessly; spend time idly.
(transitive, slang) Kill; murder.
(intransitive) Gradually lose weight or weaken.

Adjectives for Waste

unbridled; trackless; wandering; sinful; deliberate; dismal; encompassing; watery; woeful; colorless; indeterminate; gloomy; senseless; vast; thriftless; solemn-sounding; stupendous; unnecessary; terrible; inexcusable; wintry; glimmering; unproductive; arctic; barren; widening; sprinkled; spiritual; lonely; putrid; melancholy; simple; premature; colossal; tragic; aching; positive; nitrogenous; inward; desolate; hurried; remote; snowy; frightful; hopeless; burning; pathless; muscular; weltering; garden; flowering; sanctuary; shoreless; lavish; unpardonable; fruitless; boundless; ruinous; digestive; uninhabited; woodland; full; sandy; merciless; monstrous; howling; arid; frozen; turbid; war-worn; useless; dreary; dangerous; sterile; insidious; desert; wanton; verdant; enormous; tedious; billowy; illimitable; untamed; profligate; dread; moldering.

Verbs for Waste

abate—; bewail—; check—; countenance—; curb—; curtail—; decry—; detect—; diminish—; discharge—; eliminate—; excrete—; harvest—; imply—; incur—; manufacture—; rebuke for—; reproach for—; restore—; result in—; retrieve—; rid of—; upbraid for—; wipe out—; withdraw—; —abuses; —accumulates; —appals; —declines; —denudes; —desecrates; —diminishes; —dissipates; —endangers; —shrinks; —squanders; —threatens.

Adverbs for Waste

unprofitably; improvidently; rashly; carelessly; heedlessly; deliberately; woefully; senselessly; stupendously; unnecessarily; unproductively; spiritually; ruthlessly; fruitlessly; wantonly; profligately.

Thesaurus

Arabia Deserta, Death Valley, Sahara, abate, ablate, ablation, absorption, acarpous, afterglow, afterimage, arid, assimilation, atrophy, attenuate, attrition, back, back of beyond, back-country, backwood, backwoods, backwoodsy, balance, barren, barren land, barrens, bate, be consumed, be eaten away, be gone, be used up, blast, bloodbath, blot out, blow, blue ruin, blunder away, bones, breakup, bring to ruin, brush, bump off, burning up, bush, butt, butt end, candle ends, carnage, carpe diem, cast away, cease, cease to be, cease to exist, celibate, chaff, childless, condemn, confound, conspicuous consumption, consume, consume away, consumption, corrode, corrosion, croak, crumble, culm, damn, damnation, deadwood, deal destruction, debris, decimate, decimation, decline, decrease, decrement, dejecta, dejection, dejecture, deliquesce, deliquescence, dematerialize, depart, deplete, depletion, depreciate, depreciation, depredate, depredation, desecrate, desert, desolate, desolation, despoil, despoilment, despoliation, destroy, destruction, detritus, devastate, devastation, devour, die, die away, die out, digestion, diminish, disappear, discharge, dishwater, disintegration, disorganization, dispel, disperse, disruption, dissipate, dissipation, dissolution, dissolve, dive, do a fade-out, do in, draff, drain, drained, dregs, dribble away, dried-up, drivel, droop, drop, drop off, dry, dry up, dust, dust bowl, dwindle, eating up, ebb, effluent, egesta, ejecta, ejectamenta, ejection, emacerate, emaciate, emaciation, end, engorge, erase, erode, erosion, evanesce, evaporate, evaporation, excrement, excreta, excretes, exhaust, exhausted, exhaustion, exit, expend, expending, expenditure, extravagance, extravagancy, extravasate, extravasation, exudate, exudation, fade, fade away, fade out, fag end, fail, fall, fall away, fall off, fallow, filings, finishing, fix, flag, flee, fly, fool away, fossil, fritter, frivol, fruitless, garbage, gash, gaunt, gelded, get, give out, give the business, go, go away, gobble, gobble up, gun down, gut, gut with fire, havoc, heath, hecatomb, hide, hinterland, hit, hogwash, holdover, holocaust, howling wilderness, husks, ice, impotent, impoverishment, incinerate, incontinence, ineffectual, infecund, infertile, ingestion, intemperance, issueless, jejune, jungle, junk, karroo, kelter, languish, lavishness, lay in ruins, lay out, lay waste, leached, leakage, leaking purse, leave no trace, leave the scene, leavings, lees, leftovers, lessen, let up, litter, loose purse strings, lose, lose strength, loss, lunar landscape, lunar waste, macerate, marcescence, melt, melt away, menopausal, nonfertile, nonproducing, nonproductive, nonprolific, odds and ends, off, offal, offscourings, orts, outback, overdoing, overgenerosity, overgenerousness, overliberality, parch, parings, pass, pass away, pass out, peak, perdition, perish, peter out, pillage, pine, pine away, plummet, plunge, polish off, potsherds, pound-foolishness, preshrink, prodigality, profligacy, profuseness, profusion, rags, raspings, ravage, reckless expenditure, reckless spending, refuse, relics, remainder, remains, remnant, residue, residuum, rest, retire from sight, roach, rub out, rubbish, rubble, ruin, ruinate, ruination, ruins, rummage, rump, run down, run dry, run low, run out, run to seed, run to waste, sack, sag, salt flat, sawdust, scourings, scrap iron, scraps, scum, sear, settle, shadow, shambles, shards, shavings, shipwreck, shrink, shrinkage, shrivel, sine prole, sink, slack, slag, slaughter, slop, slops, spend, spending, spill, spoliate, spoliation, squander, squandering, squandermania, sterile, straw, stubble, stump, subside, sucked dry, suffer an eclipse, survival, swallow up, sweepings, swill, sylvan, tail off, take care of, tares, teemless, thin, throw into disorder, trace, transudate, transudation, trash, uncultivated, undoing, unfertile, unfruitful, unleash destruction, unleash the hurricane, unplowed, unproductive, unprolific, unsown, untilled, up-country, upheave, use up, using, using up, vandalism, vandalize, vanish, vanish from sight, vaporize, vestige, virgin, wane, wastage, waste away, waste matter, wasted, wastefulness, wasteland, wastepaper, wasting away, weaken, wear, wear and tear, wear away, wearing, wearing away, wearing down, weary waste, weazen, weeds, wild, wilderness, wildness, wilds, wilt, wilting, wipe out, wither, wither away, withering, without issue, wizen, woodland, wrack, wrack and ruin, wreak havoc, wreck, zap

Pronunciation

enPR: wāst, IPA: /weɪst/, SAMPA: /weIst/
Audio (US) noicon (file)
Rhymes: -eɪst
Homophone: waist

Etymology 1

From Middle English waste (noun, “a waste”), from Old Northern French wast, waste (“a waste”), of Germanic origin, from Frankish *wastjo (“a waste”), derivative of *wastjan (“to waste”), possibly from Latin vastō (“to waste”), merging with Low Frankish *wōstin, *wōstinna (“a waste, wasteland”), from Proto-Germanic *wōstin- (“a waste, wasteland”), from Proto-Indo-European *wāsto- (“empty, wasted”). Cognate with Old High German waste (“a waste”), Old High German wuostī (German Wüste, “a waste”), Old High German wuostinna (“a desert, waste”), Old English wēsten (“a waste, wasteland”).

Etymology 2

From Middle English waste (adjective, “waste”), from Old Northern French wast (“waste”), a conflation of Latin vāstus (“empty”) and Frankish *wōsti (“waste, empty”), from Proto-Germanic *wōstijaz (“wasted, abandoned, empty”), from Proto-Indo-European *wāsto- (“empty, wasted”). Cognate with Old High German wuosti (“waste, empty”), Old Saxon wōsti (“desolate”), Old English wēste (“waste, barren, desolate, empty”).

Etymology 3

From Middle English wasten (“to waste, lay waste”), from Old Northern French waster (“to waste, devastate”), of Germanic origin, from Frankish *wasten, *wastjan (“to waste, devastate”), possibly from Latin vastō (“to waste”) and Frankish *wōstēn, *wōstjan (“to lay waste, devastate”), from Proto-Germanic *wōstijanan (“to waste”), from Proto-Indo-European *wāsto- (“empty, wasted”). Cognate with Old High German wuostjan (German wüsten, “to waste”), Old English wēstan (“to lay waste, ravage”).