Word.ws English Dictionary

rubbish

Syllables: rub·bish/ˈɹʌbɪʃ/

rubbish noun: refuse, waste, garbage, junk, trash.

rubbish: refuse, waste, garbage, junk, trash
Image: Mumtahina Rahman, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

rubbish (usually uncountable, plural rubbishes)

  1. (Commonwealth, usually) Refuse, waste, garbage, junk, trash.
    • The rubbish is collected every Thursday in Gloucester, but on Wednesdays in Cheltenham.
    • What traſh is Rome? / What Rubbiſh and what Offall? when it ſerues / For the baſe matter, to illuminate / So vile a thing as Cæsar.1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
  2. (Commonwealth, broadly, usually) An item, or items, of low quality.
    • Much of what they sell is utter rubbish.
    • [W]e may add that publications of this nature always contain much rubbiſh to make up the bulk; for to produce a neat collection of true wit, requires talents and judgment that would ſcarcely ſtoop to the taſk.1793 February, “Art. 59. Scrapeana. Fugitive Miscellany. Small 8vo. pp. 352. 4s. sewed. Baldwin. 1792. [book review]”, in The Monthly Review; or, Literary Journal, Enlarged, volume X, London: Printed...
  3. (Commonwealth, broadly, usually) Nonsense.
    • Everything the teacher said during that lesson was rubbish. How can she possibly think that a bass viol and a cello are the same thing?
    • I ſhall […] lay out of my way the whole bede-roll of citations and precedents which they have produced, that heterogeneous heap of rubbiſh, which is only calculated to confound your Lordſhips, and miſlead the argument.1774 April, “Summary of the Arguments of the Council and Judges in the Great Cause, which was Lately Heard before the House of Peers, for Ascertaining the Right of Literary Property. […]”, in...
  4. (obsolete, usually) Debris or ruins of buildings; rubble.
    • That Antichriſt is a man exerciſing a kingdome, the head of the vniuerſall Apoſtaſie, […] the Romane monarchie being diuided and fallen downe, out of the rubbiſhes whereof, he is by litle & litle riſen & increaſed, thorow the power and forcible working of Sathan, […]1600, Amandus Polanus, “And thus Farre Concerning Open Enemies: Now Concerning Dissembled Enemies”, in [Elijahu and Thomas Wilcocks], transl., The Svbstanec^([sic – meaning Svbstance]) of Christian...
    • E'er since poor Cheapside cross in rubbage lay, […]1646, John Hall, “A Satire”, in Poems, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Printed by Roger Daniel, printer to the Universitie, for J. Rothwell, […], →OCLC; republished London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and...

Adjective

rubbish (comparative more rubbish or rubbisher, superlative most rubbish or rubbishest)

  1. (Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, colloquial) Exceedingly bad; awful.
    • This has been a rubbish day, and it’s about to get worse: my mother-in-law is coming to stay.
    • Disk interfaces have been around since the year dot, as people soon realised that the microdrive was unreliable, unstable and generally rubbish for the storage of anything, useless except as a rather small beermat.1989 June, Phil Snout [pseudonym; Phil South], “Rage Hard”, in Matt Bielby, editor, Your Sinclair, number 42, London: Dennis Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 82, column 1

Interjection

(chiefly UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, colloquial)

  1. (Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, colloquial) Used to express that something is exceedingly bad, awful, or terrible.
    • - The one day I actually practice my violin, the teacher cancels the lesson.
      - Aw, rubbish! Though at least this means you have time to play football.
  2. (Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, colloquial) Used to express that what was recently said is nonsense or untrue; balderdash!, nonsense!
    • Rubbish! I did nothing of the sort!
    • Rubbish, sir, rubbish! Pestilent and pernicious rubbish! An honest man must consider what he owes to his name and his rank. That is the first consideration.1906, Alfred Sutro, The Walls of Jericho: A Play in Four Acts, French’s Standard Library edition, New York, N.Y.; London: Samuel French, →OCLC, act II, page 44
    Synonyms:
    bollocks, bullshit

Verb

rubbish (third-person singular simple present rubbishes, present participle rubbishing, simple past and past participle rubbished)

  1. (Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, colloquial, transitive) To criticize, to denigrate, to denounce, to disparage.
    • In my judgment, it is not Christian—I think that is the proper way to put it—to rubbish the leaders of our trade union movements, both employers' and workers'. [...] The employers are quite right in rubbishing this section. The recently retired Chief Ombudsman rubbished it. The insurance guild, not...1977 August 17, A[rthur] J[ames] Faulkner, “Human Rights Commission Bill”, in Parliamentary Debates (Hansard): Third Session, Thirty-eighth Parliament (House of Representatives), volume 412...
    • We're messing around at work, the three of us, getting ready to go home and rubbishing each other's five best side one track ones of all time [...]1995, Nick Hornby, chapter 13, in High Fidelity, London: Victor Gollancz, →ISBN, page 122
  2. (Australia, Commonwealth, Hong-Kong, Ireland, UK, colloquial) To litter.
    • Speaking at today's (Tuesday) press conference to announce details of the show, Chairman of the Steering Committee, Mr Cheng Chun-ping urged members of the public to sustain their keep clean efforts and to let the message of the campaign slogan -- "There is never any excuse to rubbish your home"...1999 December 1, Cheng Chun-ping, quotee, “Special TV programme to disseminate keep clean messages”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)
    • In the 1970s there was a hugely successful campaign using the slogan: "You wouldn't rubbish your home. Australia's your home. Don't rubbish Australia." The adverts compared tossing table scraps on to the carpet with throwing food packaging from a car. It worked.2007 March 8, Tika Viker-Bloss, “How to tackle the rising tide of litter in filthy Britain”, in The Guardian

rubbish meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

rubbish in Hindi

debris or ruins of buildings
मलबा malbā

rubbish in Tamil

குப்பை

rubbish in Urdu

rubbish, nonsense
بکواس bakvās
rubbish, litter
گندگی gandagī

rubbish in Bengali

rubbish, worthless or trashy things
অগড়-বগড় ôgôṛ-bôgôṛ, আগড়-বাগড় agôṛ-bagôṛ
rubbish, garbage
ছাই chai
rubbish
জঞ্জাল jonjal
More languagesFewer languages
rubbish in Telugu
చెత్త cetta, పొల్లు pollu
rubbish in Malayalam
പാഴ്വസ്തുക്കൾ, ചവറ്, കുപ്പ
rubbish in Kannada
ಸತ್ತೆ, ಸದೆ, ಕಸ, ಪಳಿ
rubbish in Punjabi
ਕੂੜਾ kūṛā

Examples of rubbish in a sentence

  • The plaintiff claimed damages from the defendants for a breach of duty in allowing and permitting dirt and rubbish to be thrown or put upon a lane or public highway upon which his premises abutted.1862 July, “Buchanan v. The Town of Galt”, in W[illiam] D[avis] Ardagh, Robert A[lexander] Harrison, editors, The Upper Canada Law Journal...
  • They nose around in rubbish looking for scraps of food.2015, Jody Sullivan Rake, “Rubbish-eating Goats”, in Abby Colich, editor, Rubbish Munchers of the Animal World, London: Raintree, Capstone...
  • "Essays about what?" / "Oh—rubbish mostly." / There was a moment's pause. / "Oh, Lovat, don't be so silly.1923, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “Neighbours”, in Kangaroo, London: Martin Secker […], →OCLC, pages 27–28:
  • But just now she felt that there was something flippant and unseemly in talking such fantastic rubbish: dreams seemed out of place when reality was so heartbreaking.1933, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], chapter II, in The Way of the Scarlet Pimpernel, New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons...

All 40 example sentences with rubbish

Synonyms of rubbish

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of rubbish

Forms of rubbish

Noun
pluralrubbishes
alternative formrubbage
Adjective
comparativemore rubbish
comparativerubbisher
superlativemost rubbish
superlativerubbishest
Verb
third-person singular presentrubbishes
present participlerubbishing
past participlerubbished
pastrubbished

Plural of rubbish: rubbishes

Origin of rubbish

Inherited from Middle English robous (“rubbish, building rubble”), further origin uncertain; possibly from Anglo-Norman rubous, rubouse, rubbouse (“refuse, waste material; building rubble”), and compare Anglo-Latin rebbussa, robousa, robusium, robusum, rubisum, rubusa, rubusium (although the Anglo-Norman and Anglo-Latin words may be derived from the English word instead of the other way around, as there are no known Old French cognates of the word). The English word may be related to rubble, though the connection is unclear. Possibly derived ultimately from Old Norse rubba (“to huddle, crowd together, heap up", also possibly "to rub, scrape”), from Proto-Germanic *rubbōną (“to rub, scrape”). Compare Swedish rubba (“to move, displace, dislodge, upset”). The verb is derived from the noun.

Words formed from rubbish

Phrases with rubbish

Questions about rubbish

What does rubbish mean?
Rubbish means refuse, waste, garbage, junk, trash.
What is rubbish in Hindi?
Rubbish in Hindi is मलबा (malbā). See Rubbish meaning in Hindi.
How do you use rubbish in a sentence?
The plaintiff claimed damages from the defendants for a breach of duty in allowing and permitting dirt and rubbish to be thrown or put upon a lane or public highway upon which his premises abutted.
What part of speech is rubbish?
Rubbish can be a noun, an adjective, an interjection or a verb.
How do you pronounce rubbish?
Rubbish is pronounced /ˈɹʌbɪʃ/.
What is the plural of rubbish?
The plural of rubbish is rubbishes.

Words near rubbish in the dictionary

  1. rubbing up on
  2. rubbing up the wrong way
  3. rubbingly
  4. rubbings
  5. rubbingstone
  6. rubbish
  7. rubbish bag
  8. rubbish bags
  9. rubbish bin
  10. rubbish bins
  11. rubbish dump

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: rubbish (page history and authors); rubbish (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); بکواس (Urdu) (page history and authors); অগড়-বগড় (Bengali) (page history and authors); చెత్త (Telugu) (page history and authors); rubbish (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); rubbish (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਕੂੜਾ (Punjabi) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-rubbish.ogg, en-au-rubbish.ogg.

Cite this entry: “rubbish.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/rubbish. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.