Word.ws English Dictionary

waste

/ˈweɪ̯st/

waste noun: excess of material, useless by-products, or damaged, unsaleable products; garbage; rubbish.

Noun

waste (countable and uncountable, plural wastes)

  1. Excess of material, useless by-products, or damaged, unsaleable products; garbage; rubbish.
  2. Excrement or urine.
    • The cage was littered with animal waste.
  3. A wasteland; an uninhabited desolate region; a wilderness or desert.
    • We went down accordingly into the waste, and began to make our toilsome and devious travel towards the eastern verge.1886 May 1 – July 31, Robert Louis Stevenson, Kidnapped, being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751: […], London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 1886, →OCLC
    • The pampas of Argentina and the chilly wastes of Patagonia, like the prairies and deserts of North America, were largely shunned by Spanish settlers until the 1870s.1992, Edwin Williamson, The Penguin history of Latin America, London; New York: Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 33
  4. A place that has been laid waste or destroyed.
  5. A large tract of uncultivated land.
  6. (historical) The part of the land of a manor (of whatever size) not used for cultivation or grazing, nowadays treated as common land.
  7. A vast expanse of water.
  8. A disused mine or part of one.
  9. The action or progress of wasting; extravagant consumption or ineffectual use.
    • That was a waste of time!
    • Her life seemed a waste.
  10. Large abundance of something, specifically without it being used.
  11. Gradual loss or decay.
  12. A decaying of the body by disease; atrophy; wasting away.
Show 3 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. (rare) Destruction or devastation caused by war or natural disasters; see "to lay waste".
  2. 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.
  3. Material derived by mechanical and chemical erosion from the land, carried by streams to the sea.

Adjective (1)

waste (comparative more waste, superlative most waste)

  1. (derogatory, slang) Useless and contemptible.
    • Niggas moves so waste / Please, come outside the house and show yourself / So I can say it to your face2017 March 18, “Free Smoke”, in More Life, performed by Drake
    • Waste / Don't talk to me / You're so waste2022 September 22, “ONTARIO PLACE”, in BADMAN, performed by Bert Le Plug

Adjective (2)

waste (comparative more waste, superlative most waste)

  1. (archaic) Uncultivated, uninhabited.
    • SOo whanne syr Galahad was departed from the castel of maydens / he rode tyl he came to a waste forest / & there he mette with syre launcelot and syr Percyuale but they knewe hym not / for he was newe desguysed / Ryghte so syr launcelot his fader dressid his spere and brake it vpon syr Galahad1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “xvij”, in Le Morte Darthur, book XIII
  2. Barren; desert; empty.
    • ‘The stars,’ she whispers, ‘blindly run;
      ⁠A web is wov’n across the sky;
      ⁠From out waste places comes a cry,
      And murmurs from the dying sun: […]1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto III”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC
    • For centuries the shrine at Mecca had been of merely local importance, far outshone by the Temple of the Jews in Jerusalem, whose cult Christians had in good measure renewed by their pilgrimage in honour of Christ's crucifixion and resurrection, while leaving the actual site of the Jerusalem Temple...2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 255
  3. Rejected as being defective; eliminated as being worthless; produced in excess.
    • Oxygen levels on Earth skyrocketed 2.4 billion years ago, when cyanobacteria evolved photosynthesis: the ability to convert water and carbon dioxide into carbohydrates and waste oxygen using solar energy.2013 September-October, Katie L. Burke, “In the News”, in American Scientist
  4. Superfluous; needless.
  5. Dismal; gloomy; cheerless.
    • the savage Baron's heart[…] became appalled as he gazed forward into the waste darkness of futurity.1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co....
  6. Unfortunate; disappointing.

Verb

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

  1. (transitive) To devastate; to destroy.
    • Thou barrein ground, whome winters wrath hath wasted, / Art made a myrrour to behold my plight.1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “Ianuarie. Aegloga Prima.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Iohn Wolfe for Iohn Harrison the yonger, […], →OCLC
    • The Tiber / Insults our walls, and wastes our fruitful grounds.1697, Virgil, “Aeneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
  2. (transitive) To squander (money or resources) uselessly; to spend (time) idly; to dissipate.
    • We wasted millions of dollars and several years on that project.
    • I like this place, / And willingly could waste my time in it.c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
    Synonyms:
    devour
  3. (slang, transitive) To kill; to murder.
    Synonyms:
    cack
  4. (transitive) To wear away by degrees; to impair gradually; to deteriorate; to diminish by constant loss; to use up; to consume; to spend; to wear out.
    • until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Numbers 14:33
    • Wasted by such a course of life, the infirmities of age daily grew on him.1769, William Robertson, The History of the Reign of the Emperor Charles V. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] W. and W. Strahan, for W[illiam] Strahan, T[homas] Cadell, […]...
    Synonyms:
    devour
  5. (intransitive) To gradually lose weight, weaken, become frail.
  6. (intransitive) To be diminished; to lose bulk, substance, strength, value etc. gradually.
    • […]The barrell of meale shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oile faile, vntill the day that the Lord sendeth raine vpon the earth.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Kings 17:14
  7. To damage, impair, or injure (an estate, etc.) voluntarily, or by allowing the buildings, fences, etc., to fall into decay.

waste meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

waste in Hindi

useless by-products, garbage
कचरा kacrā, कूड़ा kūṛā
excrement or urine
मल mal, अपशिष्ट apśiṣṭ
wasteland, desolate region
बीहड़ bīhaṛ, बंजर bañjar
large tract of uncultivated land
बीहड़ bīhaṛ

waste in Tamil

கழிவுப் பொருள், வீண், விரயம், வீணாக்கு

waste in Marathi

waste, rubbish, garbage
कचरा kaċrā
waste; squandering of resources
नासाडी nāsāḍī
to waste or spend recklessly
उडवणे uḍavaṇe

waste in Urdu

to waste
گنوانا gãvānā
waste
اسراف isrāf
waste, havoc, overthrow, destruction, devastation
بربادی barbādī
More languagesFewer languages
waste in Bengali
অপচয়, অপব্যয়, ধ্বংস, নাশ
waste in Telugu
చెత్త cetta, వృధా చేయు vr̥dhā cēyu, కృశించు kr̥śiñcu
waste in Malayalam
മാലിന്യം mālinyaṁ
waste in Kannada
ದುಂದು ವೆಚ್ಚ, ವ್ಯರ್ಥ, ಉಪಯೋಗಕ್ಕೆ ಬಾರದುದು, ನಿರುಪಯುಕ್ತವಾದದ್ದು
waste in Punjabi
ਫੂਕਣਾ phūkṇā, ਗੁਆਉਣਾ guāuṇā
waste in Odia
ଧ୍ୱଂସ dhwaṁsa
waste in Sanskrit
मरु maru
waste in Nepali
फोहोर phohor, फोहर phohar, कचरा kacarā, कचर kacar
waste in Tagalog
basura, sobra, labis, tae
waste in Thai
กาก gàak, ขยะ kà-yà, เสีย sǐia, เสียเปล่า
waste in Vietnamese
hao mòn

Examples of waste in a sentence

  • 'Rebel railwaymen' at Birmingham New Street refused to wear the new uniforms on the grounds that they were a "complete waste of public money".2023 March 22, Mike Esbester, “Staff, the public and industry will suffer”, in RAIL, number 979, page 39:
  • Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, / And waste its sweetness on the desert air.1750 June 12 (date written; published 1751), T[homas] Gray, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”, in Designs by Mr. R[ichard] Bentley...
  • Stopping high-speed trains wastes energy and time, so why not simply slow them down enough for a moving platform to pull alongside?2013 June 1, “Ideas coming down the track”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 13 (Technology Quarterly):
  • Kay (1822-1897), afterwards Lord Justice of Appeal, had rooms on the same staircase as myself, and we wasted a great deal of time together, both in term and in my second summer vacation. .1909, Francis Galton, Memories of my life, page 69:

All 40 example sentences with waste

Synonyms of waste

Forms of waste

Noun
pluralwastes
Adjective
comparativemore waste
superlativemost waste
Verb
third-person singular presentwastes
present participlewasting
past participlewasted
pastwasted
second-person singular present (archaic)wastest
second-person singular past (archaic)wastedst
third-person singular present (archaic)wasteth

Past tense of waste: wasted

Plural of waste: wastes

Origin of waste

From Middle English wast, waste (“a waste”, noun), from Anglo-Norman, Old Northern French wast, waste (“a waste”), from Frankish *wōstī (“a waste”), from Proto-Germanic *wōstaz, *wōstuz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- (“empty, wasted”). Displaced native Middle English wernen (“to refuse”) likely due to the similar sounding Middle English warnen

From Middle English wast, waste (“waste”, adjective), from Anglo-Norman, Old Northern French wast (“waste”), from Frankish *wōstī (“waste, empty”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- (“empty, wasted”). Cognate with Old High German wuosti, wuasti (“waste, empty”), German wüst, Old Saxon wōsti (“desolate”), Old English wēste (“waste, barren, desolate, empty”).

From Middle English wasten (“to waste, lay waste”), from Anglo-Norman, Old Northern French waster (“to waste, devastate”) (compare also the variant gaster and French gâter from a related Old French word); the Anglo-Norman form waster was either from Frankish *wōstijan (“to waste”), from Proto-Indo-European *wāsto- (“empty, wasted”), or alternatively from Latin vastāre and influenced by the Frankish; the English word was assisted by similarity to native Middle English westen ("to waste"; > English weest). Cognate with Old High German wuostan, wuastan, wuostjan (“to waste”) (Modern German wüsten), Old English wēstan (“to lay waste, ravage”). Displaced native Old English essian and strȳndan. Largely overtook Old English forspillan and wēstan.

Words formed from waste

Phrases with waste

25 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with waste

23 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about waste

What does waste mean?
Waste means excess of material, useless by-products, or damaged, unsaleable products; garbage; rubbish.
What is waste in Hindi?
Waste in Hindi is कचरा (kacrā), कूड़ा (kūṛā), बीहड़ (bīhaṛ). See Waste meaning in Hindi.
How do you use waste in a sentence?
'Rebel railwaymen' at Birmingham New Street refused to wear the new uniforms on the grounds that they were a "complete waste of public money".
What part of speech is waste?
Waste can be a noun, an adjective or a verb.
How do you pronounce waste?
Waste is pronounced /ˈweɪ̯st/.
What is the plural of waste?
The plural of waste is wastes.

Words near waste in the dictionary

  1. wastage
  2. wastages
  3. wastas
  4. wastcote
  5. wastcotes
  6. waste
  7. waste away
  8. waste bin
  9. waste bins
  10. waste breath
  11. waste disposal

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: waste (page history and authors); waste (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); उडवणे (Marathi) (page history and authors); اسراف (Urdu) (page history and authors); waste (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); waste (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਗੁਆਉਣਾ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); ଧ୍ୱଂସ (Odia) (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-waste.wav.

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