waste
[verb]
Synonyms:
- misuse, blow (slang), dissipate, fritter away, lavish, squander, throw away
- waste away: decline, atrophy, crumble, decay, dwindle, fade, wane, wear out, wither
[noun]
Synonyms:
- misuse, dissipation, extravagance, frittering away, prodigality, squandering, wastefulness
- rubbish, debris, dross, garbage, leftovers, litter, refuse, scrap, trash
- wastes: desert, wasteland, wilderness
[adjective]
Synonyms:
- unwanted, leftover, superfluous, supernumerary, unused, useless, worthless
- uncultivated, bare, barren, desolate, empty, uninhabited, unproductive, wild

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Antonyms: conserve, save
Related Idioms: reduce to a shambles, let slip through one's fingers, pour down the drain, throw good money after bad
Related Words: brush, brushland, bush, jungle, rubble, rummage, disburse, expend, spend, dispense, distribute, deplete, drain, exhaust, impoverish, dispel, disperse, scatter, misspend

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English Thesaurus: refuse, say no, turn somebody/something down, reject, decline, ...

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

I. waste¹ S2 W3 /weɪst/ noun
[Word Family: noun: wastage, waste, wastefulness, waster, wastrel; adjective: waste, wasteful, wasted, wasting; verb: waste; adverb: wastefully]
[Sense 1-5: Date: 1200-1300; Origin: ⇒ waste²]
[Sense 6: Date: 1100-1200; Language: Old North French; Origin: wast, from wast (adjective); ⇒ waste³]

1. BAD USE [singular, uncountable] when something such as money or skills are not used in a way that is effective, useful, or sensible
waste of
Being unemployed is such a waste of your talents.
Many believe that state aid is a waste of taxpayers’ money.
What a waste of all that good work!
excessive waste in state spending

2. go to waste if something goes to waste, it is not used:
Don’t let all this food go to waste.

3. be a waste of time/money/effort etc to be not worth the time, money etc that you use because there is little or no result:
We should never have gone – it was a total waste of time.

4. UNWANTED MATERIALS [uncountable] unwanted materials or substances that are left after you have used something:
The emphasis now is on recycling waste. ⇒ nuclear waste, toxic waste

5. a waste of space spoken someone who has no good qualities

6. LANDwastes [plural] literary a large area of land where there are very few people, plants, or animals
wastes of
the icy wastes of Antarctica
icy/frozen/snowy etc wastes
⇒ waste ground, wasteland

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

II. waste² S2 W3 verb [transitive]
[Word Family: noun: wastage, waste, wastefulness, waster, wastrel; adjective: waste, wasteful, wasted, wasting; verb: waste; adverb: wastefully]
[Date: 1200-1300; Language: Old North French; Origin: waster, from Latin vastare; ⇒ devastate]

1. NOT USE SENSIBLY to use more money, time, energy etc than is useful or sensible:
Leaving the heating on all the time wastes electricity.
waste something on somebody/something
Don’t waste your money on that junk!

2. NOT USE FULLY [usually passive] to not make full use of someone or something:
Hannah’s wasted in that clerical job.
His talents were being wasted as a lawyer.

3. be wasted on somebody if something is wasted on someone, they do not understand how good or useful it is:
Her good advice was wasted on the children.

4. waste your breath spoken to say something that has no effect:
Don’t try to reason with Paul – you’re wasting your breath.

5. waste no time (in) doing something to do something as quickly as you can because it will help you:
He wasted no time in introducing himself.

6. waste not, want not spoken used to say that if you use what you have carefully, you will still have some of it if you need it later

7. HARM SOMEBODY American English informal to kill someone, severely injure them, or defeat them
waste away phrasal verb
to gradually become thinner and weaker, usually because you are ill

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

III. waste³ W3 adjective [only before noun]
[Word Family: noun: wastage, waste, wastefulness, waster, wastrel; adjective: waste, wasteful, wasted, wasting; verb: waste; adverb: wastefully]
[Date: 1200-1300; Language: Old North French; Origin: wast, from Latin vastus; ⇒ vast]

1. waste materials, substances etc are unwanted because the good part of them has been removed

2. waste land is empty or not looked after by anyone
⇒ wasteland, ⇒ lay waste at lay²(11)

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

waste
noun
I. missing an opportunity to do/use sth
ADJ. absolute, complete, total, utter The whole thing has been a complete waste of time.
colossal, great, tremendous | awful, criminal, senseless, shocking, terrible a criminal waste of public money
needless, unnecessary, useless | tragic a tragic waste of human life
expensive | conspicuous
VERB + WASTE go to If nobody comes all this food will go to waste.
cause | avoid Try to avoid unnecessary waste.
cut down on, reduce | minimize
PREP. ~ of a waste of energy/resources

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

waste
II. unwanted substances/things
ADJ. dangerous, harmful, hazardous, poisonous, toxic a dump containing hazardous waste
non-toxic | high-level, intermediate-level, low-level | recyclable | agricultural, commercial, industrial | domestic, household, kitchen All household waste should be disposed of in strong garbage bags.
clinical, hospital, medical | nuclear, radioactive | chemical | plastic | organic | animal, human | garden, plant | municipal | liquid, solid | food, energy
VERB + WASTE produce Tonnes of waste are produced every year.
dispose of, dump, get rid of More people are dumping waste illegally.
clean up the highly expensive task of cleaning up toxic waste
burn, incinerate an incinerator for burning hospital waste
bury, store | process, treat facilities for processing radioactive waste
recycle, reprocess | deal with, handle, manage the best solutions for managing waste
cut down on, reduce | eliminate | export, import Industrialized countries continue to export their waste.
WASTE + VERB contaminate sth, pollute sth areas contaminated by industrial waste
WASTE + NOUN collection | burial, disposal, incineration | storage | processing, recycling, reprocessing, treatment a waste reprocessing plant
management | minimization, reduction | bin | dump, site, tip The river was used for years as an industrial waste dump.
outlet, pipe | imports a ban on waste imports

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

waste
III. wastes: areas of ground not lived in or cultivated
ADJ. frozen, icy the frozen wastes of Antarctica

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

waste
verb
ADV. (not) entirely, (not) totally In the end her efforts were not entirely wasted.
just, simply You're just wasting your breath. She never listens.
largely
VERB + WASTE can't afford to, not want to He didn't want to waste valuable time in idle gossip.
be/seem a shame to It seems a shame to waste this good food.
not be going to I'm not going to waste any more time on the problem.
PREP. on Don't waste your money on a hotel room.
PHRASES no time to waste Hurry up?there's no time to waste!

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

waste

recycle waste
How much of our household waste is recycled?
dispose of waste
environmentally friendly ways to dispose of waste
dump waste
They were fined for illegally dumping waste.
incinerate waste (=burn it)
For many years, solid waste was incinerated.
reprocess waste (=treat radioactive waste so that it can be used again)
The plant reprocesses nuclear waste.
household/domestic waste
Newspapers and magazines make up 10% of household waste.
industrial/chemical waste
pollution caused by industrial waste
hazardous/toxic waste
the illegal dumping of hazardous waste
radioactive/nuclear waste
plans for the safe transportation of radioactive waste
organic waste (=waste from plants, fruits, and vegetables)
Organic waste can be composted to make garden fertilizer.
human waste (=from people going to the toilet)
The prison was full of the smell of human waste.
a waste pipe
a washing machine waste pipe

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

waste
noun
BAD: The report deals with the problem of nuclear wastes.
GOOD: The report deals with the problem of nuclear waste.

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Common Errors ▲

refuse to say firmly that you will not do something that someone has asked you to do:
I asked the bank for a loan, but they refused.
When they refused to leave, we had to call the police.
say no spoken to say that you will not do something when someone asks you:
They asked me so nicely that I couldn’t really say no.
turn somebody/something down to refuse to accept an offer or invitation, or a formal request:
They offered me the job but I turned it down.
The board turned down a request for $25,000 to sponsor an art exhibition.
I’ve already been turned down by three colleges.
reject to refuse to accept an idea, offer, suggestion, or plan:
They rejected the idea because it would cost too much money.
The Senate rejected a proposal to limit the program to two years.
decline formal to politely refuse to accept an offer or invitation, or refuse to do something:
She has declined all offers of help.
A palace spokesman declined to comment on the rumours.
deny to refuse to allow someone to do something or enter somewhere:
They were denied permission to publish the book.
He was denied access to the US.
veto to officially refuse to allow a law or plan, or to refuse to accept someone’s suggestion:
Congress vetoed the bill.
The suggestion was quickly vetoed by the other members of the team.
disallow to officially refuse to accept something because someone has broken the rules, or not done it in the correct way:
The goal was disallowed by the referee.
The court decided to disallow his evidence.
rebuff formal to refuse to accept someone’s offer, request, or suggestion:
The company raised its offer to $6 billion, but was rebuffed.
He was politely rebuffed when he suggested holding the show in Dublin.
give somebody/something the thumbs down informal to refuse to allow or accept a plan or suggestion:
The plan was given the thumbs down by the local authority.
They gave us the thumbs down.
rubbish especially British English things that people throw away, such as old food, dirty paper etc:
People are being encouraged to recycle their household rubbish.
the rubbish bin
garbage/trash American English rubbish:
The garbage is collected every Tuesday.
There were piles of trash in the backyard.
a black plastic garbage bag
litter empty bottles, pieces of paper etc that people have dropped on the ground:
Parents should teach children not to drop litter.
There was a lot of litter on the beach.
waste rubbish, or materials that need to be dealt with after they have been used in industrial processes:
nuclear waste
toxic waste
household waste
The company was fined for dumping toxic waste in the sea.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲

rubbish especially British English things that people throw away, such as old food, dirty paper etc:
People are being encouraged to recycle their household rubbish.
the rubbish bin
garbage/trash American English rubbish:
The garbage is collected every Tuesday.
There were piles of trash in the backyard.
a black plastic garbage bag
refuse formal rubbish:
The strike has disrupted refuse collection.
It’s a site which is used for domestic refuse.
litter empty bottles, pieces of paper etc that people have dropped on the ground:
Parents should teach children not to drop litter.
There was a lot of litter on the beach.
waste rubbish, or materials that need to be dealt with after they have been used in industrial processes:
nuclear waste
toxic waste
household waste
The company was fined for dumping toxic waste in the sea.
destroy to damage something so badly that it no longer exists or cannot be used or repaired:
The earthquake almost completely destroyed the city.
The twin towers were destroyed in a terrorist attack.
devastate to damage a large area very badly and destroy many things in it:
Allied bombings in 1943 devastated the city.
The country’s economy has been devastated by years of fighting.
demolish to completely destroy a building, either deliberately or by accident:
The original 15th century house was demolished in Victorian times.
The plane crashed into a suburb of Paris, demolishing several buildings.
flatten to destroy a building or town by knocking it down, bombing it etc, so that nothing is left standing:
The town centre was flattened by a 500 lb bomb.
wreck to deliberately damage something very badly, especially a room or building:
The toilets had been wrecked by vandals.
They just wrecked the place.
trash informal to deliberately destroy a lot of the things in a room, house etc:
Apparently, he trashed his hotel room while on drugs.
obliterate formal to destroy a place so completely that nothing remains:
The nuclear blast obliterated most of Hiroshima.
reduce something to ruins/rubble/ashes to destroy a building or town completely:
The town was reduced to rubble in the First World War.
ruin to spoil something completely, so that it cannot be used or enjoyed:
Fungus may ruin the crop.
The new houses will ruin the view.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲

waste
weɪst
See: go to waste , lay waste

[TahlilGaran] English Idioms Dictionary ▲