waste
nounEtymology
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.
Definitions
Excess of material, useless by-products, or damaged, unsaleable products
Excess of material, useless by-products, or damaged, unsaleable products; garbage; rubbish.
Excrement or urine.
- The cage was littered with animal waste.
A wasteland
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.
- 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.
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A place that has been laid waste or destroyed.
A large tract of uncultivated land.
The part of the land of a manor (of whatever size) not used for cultivation or grazing,…
The part of the land of a manor (of whatever size) not used for cultivation or grazing, nowadays treated as common land.
A vast expanse of water.
A disused mine or part of one.
The action or progress of wasting
The action or progress of wasting; extravagant consumption or ineffectual use.
- That was a waste of time!
- Her life seemed a waste.
- 'Rebel railwaymen' at Birmingham New Street refused to wear the new uniforms on the grounds that they were a "complete waste of public money".
Large abundance of something, specifically without it being used.
Gradual loss or decay.
A decaying of the body by disease
A decaying of the body by disease; atrophy; wasting away.
Destruction or devastation caused by war or natural disasters
Destruction or devastation caused by war or natural disasters; see "to lay waste".
A cause of action which may be brought by the owner of a future interest in property…
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.
Material derived by mechanical and chemical erosion from the land, carried by streams to…
Material derived by mechanical and chemical erosion from the land, carried by streams to the sea.
Useless and contemptible.
- Niggas moves so waste / Please, come outside the house and show yourself / So I can say it to your face
- Waste / Don't talk to me / You're so waste
Uncultivated, uninhabited.
Barren
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: […]
Rejected as being defective
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.
Superfluous
Superfluous; needless.
Dismal
Dismal; gloomy; cheerless.
- the savage Baron's heart[…] became appalled as he gazed forward into the waste darkness of futurity.
Unfortunate
Unfortunate; disappointing.
To devastate
To devastate; to destroy.
- Thou barrein ground, whome winters wrath hath wasted, / Art made a myrrour to behold my plight.
- The Tiber / Insults our walls, and wastes our fruitful grounds.
To squander (money or resources) uselessly
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.
- Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, / And waste its sweetness on the desert air.
To kill
To kill; to murder.
To wear away by degrees
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 wilderness
- Wasted by such a course of life, the infirmities of age daily grew on him.
To gradually lose weight, weaken, become frail.
To be diminished
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.
To damage, impair, or injure (an estate, etc.) voluntarily, or by allowing the buildings,…
To damage, impair, or injure (an estate, etc.) voluntarily, or by allowing the buildings, fences, etc., to fall into decay.
The neighborhood
- synonymtop
- synonymduppy
- neighborWaste in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)
Derived
lay waste, lie waste, nonwasted, nonwasting, unwasted, wasteland, wasteness, waste water, wastewater
Vish — recursive loop
A definitional loop anchored at waste. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.
A definitional loop anchored at waste. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.
7 hops · closes at waste
curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA