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waste Definition

waste (wāst)

transitive verb wast′ed, wast′·ing

  1. to destroy; devastate; ruin
  2. to wear away; consume gradually; use up
  3. to make weak, feeble, or emaciated; wear away the strength, vigor, or life of a man wasted by age and disease
  4. to use up or spend without real need, gain, or purpose; squander
  5. to fail to take proper advantage of to waste an opportunity
  6. ☆ Slang to kill, usually with violence; esp., to murder

Etymology: ME wasten < NormFr waster < L vastare, to lay waste, devastate (< vastus: see vast): infl. by Gmc *wostjan > OHG wuosten

intransitive verb

  1. to lose strength, health, vigor, flesh, etc., as by disease; become weak or enfeebled: often with away
  2. to be used up or worn down gradually; become smaller or fewer by gradual loss
  3. Now Rare to pass or be spent: said of time
  4. to be wasted, or not put to full or proper use

adjective

  1. uncultivated or uninhabited; wild; barren; desolate
  2. left over, superfluous, refuse, or no longer of use a waste product
  3. produced in excess of what is or can be used waste energy
  4. excreted from the body as useless or superfluous material: said as of feces or urine
  5. used to carry off or hold waste or refuse a waste pipe, wastebasket

Etymology: ME wast < NormFr < L vastus: see vast

noun

  1. uncultivated or uninhabited land, as a desert or wilderness
    1. a desolate, uncultivated, or devastated stretch, tract, or area
    2. a vast expanse, as of the sea
  3. a wasting or being wasted; specif.,
    1. a useless or profitless spending or consuming; squandering, as of money or time
    2. a failure to take advantage (of something)
    3. a gradual loss, decrease, or destruction by use, wear, decay, deterioration, etc.
  4. useless, superfluous, or discarded material, as ashes, garbage or sewage
  5. matter excreted from the body, as feces or urine
  6. cotton fiber or yarn left over from the process of milling, used for wiping machinery, packing bearings, etc.
  7. Obsolete ruin or devastation, as by war or fire
  8. Physical Geog. material derived by land erosion or disintegration of rock, and carried to the sea by rivers and streams

Etymology: ME < NormFr < the adj.; also in part < L vastum, neut. of vastus

waste Idioms

go to waste

to be or become wasted

lay waste (to)

to destroy; devastate; make desolate

waste Synonyms

waste

modif.

futile, discarded, worthless, valueless, useless, empty, barren, dreary, uninhabited, desolate, profitless, superfluous, unnecessary, functionless, purposeless, pointless, unserviceable.

Antonyms usable*, preserved*, valuable.

waste Synonyms

waste

n.

  1. The state of being wasted

    disuse, misuse, dissipation, consumption, uselessness, devastation, ruin, decay, dilapidation, loss, exhaustion, extravagance, squandering, wear and tear, wrack and ruin; see also wear.

    Antonyms use*, profit*, value*. *

  2. Refuse

    rubbish, garbage, scrap; see excess 4, trash 1, 3.

  3. Unused land

    desert, wilds, wilderness, dustbowl, wasteland, tundra, marsh, marshland, badlands, bog, fen, moor, quagmire, swamp, wash.

waste, in this connection, is the general word for any stretch of uncultivable, hence uninhabitable, land; a desert is a barren, arid, usually sandy tract of land; badlands is applied to a barren, hilly waste where rapid erosion has cut the soft rocks into fantastic shapes; wilderness refers to an uninhabited waste where a lack of paths or trails makes it difficult to find one's way, esp. to such a region thickly covered with trees and underbrush

waste Synonyms

waste

v.

  1. To use without result

    dissipate, spend, consume, lose, be of no avail, come to nothing, go to waste, misuse, throw away, use up, misapply, misemploy, labor in vain, cast pearls before swine*, send owls to Athens*, carry coals to Newcastle*.

    Antonyms profit*, use well, get results.

  2. To squander

    burn up, lavish, scatter, splurge, spend, be prodigal, indulge, abuse, empty, drain, use up, deplete, fatigue, spill, impoverish, misspend, exhaust, fritter away, fool away, ruin, be spendthrift, divert, go through, gamble away, throw money into a well*, run through*, hang the expense*, scatter to the winds*, blow*, burn the candle at both ends*.

    Antonyms save*, be thrifty, manage wisely.

  3. To be consumed gradually

    decay, thin out, become thin, dwindle, lose weight, be diseased, run dry, run to seed, wilt, droop, decrease, disappear, drain, empty, wear.

    Antonyms grow*, develop*, enrich.

waste Law Definition

n

Permanent harm done to real property by a person or persons in legal possession of that property (such as a tenant), such that the property’s value to its actual owner or future inheritor is diminished. The legal possession part is critical in distinguishing waste from trespass.
ameliorating waste
An unauthorized physical change of an occupied structure by a tenant that, while technically waste, actually increases the value of the property, such as tearing out old carpeting and putting in new, better quality carpeting. Such an act is rarely considered grounds for liability.
equitable waste
Damage done by a lifelong tenant who normally would be unchallengeable, but who may be enjoined by the court using the standard of variance from what a prudent man would do with his own property.
hazardous waste
By-product of certain industries or activities, determined to be of unusually dangerous nature, e.g., radioactive waste, generally subject to special rules of disposable and/or recycling. 
permissive waste
Damage done by a tenant’s failure to make reasonable repairs that he might normally be expected to see to, such as allowing water to accumulate in a leaky basement over the course of years.
voluntary waste
Damage directly caused to the property by a voluntary act of the tenant, such as filling in drainage ditches or punching a hole in the roof.
waste Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • recycle: New methods of reducing, re-using and recycling waste are required if the reliance on landfill is to change.
  • minimize: For most businesses, financial savings can readily be realized by reducing energy and water use and minimizing waste in simple ways.
  • dump: According to The Macmillan Encyclopedia 2001 ' it campaigns primarily against nuclear power, dumping nuclear waste, and commercial whaling.
  • lay: For many years, the World outside the Vale was desolate, laid waste by the armies of the Night.

Adjective modifier

  • radioactive: This would be the first time a submarine has been dismantled with some of the most radioactive wastes being stored at Rosyth.
  • hazardous: You can also contact us for information on hazardous waste like asbestos.
  • municipal: On average, every EU citizen produces 550kg of municipal waste per year and this is growing.
  • biodegradable: The EU Landfill Directive will require an increasing proportion of biodegradable waste to be diverted to other disposal methods.
  • toxic: A koi pond should be able to stand-alone for hours without danger of quick suffocation or toxic waste build up.
  • nuclear: Ann is a member of the London Nuclear Trains Working Group, opposing the transportation of nuclear waste through Bromley Boro.

Modifies a noun

  • disposal: A large waste disposal depot is beside the canal about half way down with a useful refuse skip nearby.
  • minimisation: There are two distinct strands to the diaper waste minimisation scheme.
  • management: What have you learned about working in the waste management industry.
  • stream: From 2001/02 estates PFI contract will measure all waste streams.
  • bin: What opinion on waste bin in library, how stop overflowing?
  • recycling: In May 2003 the contract was confirmed and work commenced on the building of a new £ 30million waste recycling facility in Leicester.

Noun used with modifier

  • household: They also compost organic household waste for use in the garden.
  • packaging: Your obligation is based upon the packaging that you handle not the packaging waste in your own bins.
  • garden: Don't place garden waste in either your green or black bin.
  • demolition: The Civic Amenity sites will not accept trade, commercial, construction or demolition waste.
waste Quotes

The best machines and to be chosen aboveall others are those which consist of the fewest parts or which are the simplest, which produce the least friction; which are not too heavily loaded, and where the power can be convenientlyapplied without any waste.

—Leupold,Jakob

   To be, or not to be; that is the bare bodkin That makes calamity of so long life; For who would fardels bear, till Birnam Wood do come to Dunsinane, But that the fear of something after death Murders the innocent sleep, Great nature's second course, And makes us rather sling the arrows of outrageous fortune Than fly to others that we know not of. There's the respect must give us pause: Wake Duncan with thy knocking! I would thou couldst; For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,

—Twain, Mark pseudonym of  Samuel Langhorne Clemens

I believe every human has a finite number of heart- beats.I don't intend towasteanyof minerunning around doing exercises.

—Armstrong, Neil A(lden)

I love all waste And solitary places; where we taste The pleasure of believing what we see Is boundless, as we wish our souls to be.

—Shelley, Percy Bysshe

He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.

—Bible (Old Testament)

Life is too short to waste on the admiration of one man.

—Scott, Rose

My definition of utter waste is a coachload of lawyers going over a cliff, with three empty seats.

—Hunt, Lamar

The land lies desolate and stripped; Across its waste has thinly strayed A tattered host of eucalypt. From whose gaunt uniform is made A ragged penury of shade.

—Adams, Arthur Henry

En perseguirme, Mundo, Que¤   interesas? En que¤   te ofendo, cuando so¤  lo intento poner bellezas en mi entendimiento y no mi entendimiento en las bellezas? World, in hounding me, what do you gain? How can it harm you if I choose, astutely, rather to stock my mind with things of beauty, than waste its stock on every beauty's claim?

—Cruz, SorJuana Ine¤  s de la

   Waste of Blood, and waste of Tears, Waste of youth's most precious years, Waste of ways the saints have trod, Waste of Glory, waste of God, War!

—'Woodbine Willie'

From the lone shieling of the misty island Mountains divide us, and the waste of seasö Yet still the blood is strong, the heart is Highland, And we in dreams behold the Hebrides! Fair these broad meads, these hoary woods are grand; But we are exiles from our fathers' land.

—Galt,John

At last America is in my view; a dreary waste of white barren sand, and melancholy, nodding pines. In the course of many miles, no cheerful cottage has blest my eyes. All seems dreary, savage and desert; and was it for this such sums of money, such streams of British blood have been lavished away? Oh, thou dear land, how dearly hast thou purchased this habitation for bears and wolves. Dearly has it been purchased, and at a price far dearer still it will be kept. My heart dies within me, while I view it.

—Schaw,Janet   b.c.1730

Slowly the poison the whole blood stream fills. It is not the effort or the failure tires. The waste remains, the waste remains and kills.

—Empson, Sir William

Browse dictionary entries near waste

  1. ‹ wastage
  2. ‹ wast
  3. ‹ Wassermann
  4. ‹ wassail
  5. ‹ waspy
  6. ‹ waspish
  7. ‹ wasp waist
  8. ‹ wasp
  9. ‹ wasn't
  10. ‹ washy
  1. waste pipe ›
  2. waste time ›
  3. wastebasket ›
  4. wasted ›
  5. wasteful ›
  6. wastefully ›
  7. wasteland ›
  8. wastepaper ›
  9. waster ›
  10. wastewater ›