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Waste

[weyst]

Example Sentences Origin

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verb (used with object)

to consume, spend, or employ uselessly or without adequate return; use to no avail or profit; squander: to waste money; to waste words.

to fail or neglect to use: to waste an opportunity.

to destroy or consume gradually; wear away: The waves waste the rock of the shore.

to wear down or reduce in bodily substance, health, or strength; emaciate; enfeeble: to be wasted by disease or hunger.

to destroy, devastate, or ruin: a country wasted by a long and futile war.

EXPAND

Slang. to kill or murder.

COLLAPSE

verb (used without object)

to be consumed, spent, or employed uselessly or without giving full value or being fully utilized or appreciated.

to become gradually consumed, used up, or worn away: A candle wastes in burning.

to become physically worn; lose flesh or strength; become emaciated or enfeebled.

10.

to diminish gradually; dwindle, as wealth, power, etc.: The might of England is wasting.

11.

to pass gradually, as time.

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Waste is always a great word to know.

So is crunchy-granola. Does it mean:

characterized by or defining oneself by ecological awareness, liberal political views, and support or use of natural products and health foods

to refuse to serve at a bar or restaurant; to be thrown out of or forbidden from an establishment

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noun

12.

useless consumption or expenditure; use without adequate return; an act or instance of wasting: The project was a waste of material, money, time, and energy.

13.

neglect, instead of use: waste of opportunity.

14.

gradual destruction, impairment, or decay: the waste and repair of bodily tissue.

15.

devastation or ruin, as from war or fire.

16.

a region or place devastated or ruined: The forest fire left a blackened waste.

EXPAND

17.

anything unused, unproductive, or not properly utilized.

18.

an uncultivated tract of land.

19.

a wild region or tract of land; desolate country, desert, or the like.

20.

an empty, desolate, or dreary tract or extent: a waste of snow.

21.

anything left over or superfluous, as excess material or by-products, not of use for the work in hand: a fortune made in salvaging factory wastes.

22.

remnants, as from the working of cotton, used for wiping machinery, absorbing oil, etc.

23.

Physical Geography. material derived by mechanical and chemical disintegration of rock, as the detritus transported by streams, rivers, etc.

24.

garbage; refuse.

25.

wastes, excrement.

COLLAPSE

adjective

26.

not used or in use: waste energy; waste talents.

27.

(of land, regions, etc.) wild, desolate, barren, or uninhabited; desert.

28.

(of regions, towns, etc.) in a state of desolation and ruin, as from devastation or decay.

29.

left over or superfluous: to utilize waste products of manufacture.

30.

having served or fulfilled a purpose; no longer of use.

EXPAND

31.

rejected as useless or worthless; refuse: to salvage waste products.

32.

Physiology. pertaining to material unused by or unusable to the organism.

33.

designed or used to receive, hold, or carry away excess, superfluous, used, or useless material (often in combination): a waste pipe; waste container.

34.

Obsolete. excessive; needless.

COLLAPSE

Idioms

35.

go to waste, to fail to be used or consumed; be wasted: She hates to see good food go to waste.

36.

lay waste, to devastate; destroy; ruin: Forest fires lay waste thousands of acres yearly.

Origin:
1150–1200; 1960–65 for def. 6; (adj.) Middle English < Old North French wast (Old French g(u)ast) < Latin vāstus desolate; (v.) Middle English < Old North French waster (Old French g(u)aster) < Latin vāstāre, derivative of vāstus; (noun) Middle English < Old North French wast(e) (Old French g(u)aste), partly < Latin vāstum, noun use of neuter of vāstus, partly derivative of waster; Old North French w-, Old French gu- by influence of cognate with Frankish *wōsti desolate (cognate with Old High German wuosti)

Related forms

wast·a·ble, adjective

waste·less, adjective

out·waste, verb (used with object), -wast·ed, -wast·ing.

un·wast·a·ble, adjective

Can be confused: waist, waste.

Synonyms
1. misspend, dissipate, fritter away, expend. 3. erode. 5. ravage, pillage, plunder, sack, spoil, despoil. 10. decline, perish, wane, decay. 12. dissipation. 14. diminution, decline, emaciation, consumption. 15. spoliation, desolation. 19. See desert¹. 24. rubbish, trash. 36. See ravage. 28. ruined, ghostly, destroyed. 29. unused, useless, extra.

Antonyms
1. save.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To Waste

Example Sentences

Flush toilets swirl human waste down the drain quickly and neatly.

Actually doing an experiment seems to be meaningless to them and they will tell you it is a waste of time.

Improved energy efficiency and waste management are obvious examples.

EXPAND

Flush toilets swirl human waste down the drain quickly and neatly.

Actually doing an experiment seems to be meaningless to them and they will tell you it is a waste of time.

Improved energy efficiency and waste management are obvious examples.

Making your own compost saves money and prevents usable waste from further burdening our landfills.

The process could even be used on spent fuel rods and other nuclear waste.

With the official kick-off of outdoor barbecue season this weekend also comes an alarming increase in beer waste.

Return organic waste to the soil in form of compost.

Nearly all countries produce nuclear waste and some of it can remain radioactive for thousands of years.

Waste from the cages polluted the pristine ecosystem, and some tilapia escaped.

Of course no muons will be created in pursuing them, but that doesn't make the research a waste of money.

It is economics, not technology, that is holding back the recycling of electronic waste.

Converting waste heat into electricity cuts power costs around the world.

Turn the waste from other industries into a resource for this new one, helping to solve the waste problem at the same time.

If they come too early they waste valuable time waiting for the pods to fall.

The combination of these creatures' waste products and their remains, called humus, binds with soil particles.

The funny thing about waste is that it's all relative to your sense of scarcity.

Nevada is home to the largest nuclear bomb test site, and the proposed host for a nuclear waste repository.

He is trying to discourage people from taking them saying it's a waste of money.

Surely there is a niche for a book or pamphlet on avoiding food waste and the use of left overs.

Every household produces personal waste every day that adds up to a staggering amount of garbage each year.

Until then don't waste everyone's time with foolish math.

Tossing them into a toilet bowl is a waste of water.

His own group will study waste storage and waste-treatment facilities to see how they contribute to air pollution.

They are a waste of time to write and a waste of time to read.

Some water is lost through evaporation in the cooling tower and in waste discharge.

Recycling unwanted clothing reduces landfill waste as well as the amount of resources needed to produce new clothing.

Aquaponics fertilizes plant crops with bacteria-treated fish waste products.

The structure itself was the city's first green building, built to minimize waste and using recycled materials where possible.

The bacteria filter the water, then eat up the sludge that's a common byproduct of waste treatment.

He refused to waste those spare minutes he knew he had throughout his workday.

In many parts of the world where sewage treatment is lacking, raw human waste spills into the open sea.

Plant waste materials may be a fine source of energy.

To avoid waste you have to preserve the bounty somehow.

Irish scientists have isolated a bacterium that can convert a toxic waste product into safe, biodegradable plastic.

With that, one might deduce that it is wrong to waste anything, lest you desecrate creation.

Many communities burn their solid waste until nothing remains but fine, white-gray ash, which is then buried in landfills.

It does not seem to me worth it to waste their youth and talent in such a thankless place.

In our system, competing suppliers are always producing more stuff than they can sell, and the excess goes to waste.

Irrigation is the primary agricultural use of human waste in the developing world.

It also takes a long time to biodegrade compared to other organic waste.

Reducing water usage and waste can lower greenhouse gas emissions.

He wrote as if he had no time to waste forming vowels.

Food waste that ends up in a landfill doesn't biodegrade without consequences.

If your vehicle has a diesel engine, you can convert it to run on waste vegetable oil from restaurants.

Cribb and other experts urge cities to reclaim nutrients and water from waste streams and preserve farmland.

Searching for single-factor causation is a waste of time.

Contact a hazardous waste recycling facility in your area.

The runoff flows directly into the river via waste pipes, she added.

Worm composting is a way to put food waste to good use by feeding it to about a thousand worms.

Wastewater bacteria feed on everything from solid human waste matter to last night's leftovers.

Decomposing waste in landfills produces methane and other greenhouse gases.

Most organic household waste makes a suitable addition to the compost pile.

Starting a small compost bin for household use reduces the amount of waste your family sends to the landfill each week.

Worms eat kitchen scraps, quickly turning your waste into rich, dark compost.

Reducing the amount of solid waste is an active way to help cut back on greenhouse gas emissions.

Composing and recycling are two environmentally sound methods of handling waste.

Click through ten multiple-choice questions to find out how much you know about electronic waste.

Compost all pre- and post-consumer food waste generated in dining facilities.

By running pipes that carry outgoing waste hot water alongside those carrying incoming fresh cold.

Accusations fly over criminal dumping and scuttling of cargo ships carrying industrial and radioactive waste.

The waste falls into two shredders and then a granulator for grinding.

The worse part of it is that you waste so much time preparing your file that it takes time away from research and teaching.

Less and less waste, these days, is actually allowed to go to waste.

Nuclear waste is either a millennia's worth of lethal garbage or the fuel of future nuclear reactors--or both.

Don't waste your time getting angry over what's probably trivia.

Solar-powered bullet trains are no less a waste of money.

Drafty buildings, inefficient appliances and mountains of waste will all need to be transformed to control global warming.

Cars waste tremendous amounts of heat--which is, after all, a form of energy.

However, in my opinion, it was probably a waste of my time to say anything more.

The interstate highway system is an excellent example of waste.

Making biofuels from waste makes dollars--and sense.

I've never had to waste time finding my place in line.

Now imagine that those trees are growing in waste collected from the.

Trafigura says that neither report showed that it had dumped hazardous waste.

With no permanent waste repository in sight, the nuclear industry is storing spent fuel at reactor sites.

The interface bar launcher that stays on-screen with many apps is an unattractive waste of a sliver of screen real estate.

One gram of solid radioactive waste from a nuclear plant is.

Newly evolved earthworms found at old mining sites eat toxic waste and could help cleanse polluted industrial land.

Whether waste paper or raked leaves, the plant remnants still contain.

In an effort to reduce energy waste and greenhouse gas emissions, the provisions laid out in.

After the meal, the same package is then used to sterilize waste and store it until jettison time.

Most universities have countless vitas on file and won't waste legal time and expense pursuing you.

Grancrete, as its invention is known, has its origins in a material invented to encapsulate nuclear waste.

They take your kitchen waste and turn it into sweet-smelling compost in as little as two months.

Also, this waste is transported via the rail system.

Ethanol made from waste materials instead of specially grown crops is called bioethanol.

I've grown bored, and will waste no more electrons, here.

New approaches that use cellulosic waste as foodstock for conversion into alkenes promise to provide a better way forward.

These once valuable rockets now are part of a growing band of space waste.

The waste problem seems to be a financial and political problem while in reality it is a scientific and religious one.

But an eye transplant because you'd rather have green eyes than blue is a waste of an ophthalmologist.

There is no reason to waste your time or their time if both sides have a different idea about what they can afford/will take.

Europe needs to deal with its growing electronic waste problem.

After it has been used as fuel for power plants, the element leaves behind minuscule amounts of waste.

Don't wallow in uncertainty and waste time and energy on worry.

Some communities have successfully taken the initiative over ordinary rubbish as well as waste water.

Product labels will list emissions, waste and water ratings.

And that waste needs to be stored for only a few hundred.

For decades, whenever rail containers bearing nuclear waste have travelled from a fuel reprocessing.

Using either approach to waste management keeps materials out of landfills and.

Questionable sampling techniques have led to murky conclusions about the contents of waste water.

Profits made from reusing waste could transform sanitation and.

Coal waste could provide a strong, lightweight material for car manufacturers.

If he was going to buy frivolous things, he would have to make sure that they did not go to waste.

The less efficient you are, the more waste you produce.

It is a waste product, and no species can long live in its own excrement.

Because it's better to waste a little time and money than end up dead.

The downside to zero gravity: a lot of maintenance for waste disposal.

Hopefully when the tide went out it would take the human waste out with.

Waste also requires energy to manufacture in the first place.

Firms seek greener ethanol from wood chips and agricultural waste.

Some of them steadily break down the organic material in waste streams.

Photosynthesis is a neat trick: take light, carbon dioxide and water, and make sugar as well as oxygen as waste.

Skipper caterpillars have developed an unusual form of waste disposal.

All those biofuels gotten from corn and other cereals are such a waste of money and it takes away the food of our tables.

Many communities burn their solid waste until nothing remains but fine, white-gray ash, which is they buried in landfills.

Washing machine waste water carries tiny pieces of plastic to the oceans, where.

For the environmentally conscious bride, a traditional wedding dress represents the ultimate in waste.

Composting gives new life to organic waste that would ordinarily be turned out.

China may someday succeed in curtailing electronic waste imports.

First, consider how much waste you expect to regularly add to your compost.

Ecological sanitation helps these marginalized, yet resilient people transform human waste into something valuable”.

Estimate the number of pounds of waste you recycle each year.

Many household cleaners are considered hazardous waste because of their toxic ingredients.

In many mills the wood waste is burned, as are the waste chemicals.

Aerial photography and satellites show in vivid detail the results of laying waste to vast areas of forest and the harm done.

But researchers who study coprolites say these dietary waste products can tell us much about the.

Create private-public partnerships to provide services such as waste disposal and housing.

And no society can be healthy without the proper disposal of human waste.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

waste (weɪst)

—vb (when intr, often foll by away)
1.	(tr) to use, consume, or expend thoughtlessly, carelessly, or to no avail
2.	(tr) to fail to take advantage of: to waste an opportunity
3.	to lose or cause to lose bodily strength, health, etc
4.	to exhaust or become exhausted
5.	(tr) to ravage
6.	informal (tr) to murder or kill: I want that guy wasted by tomorrow

—n
7.	the act of wasting or state of being wasted
8.	a failure to take advantage of something
9.	anything unused or not used to full advantage
10.	anything or anyone rejected as useless, worthless, or in excess of what is required
11.	garbage, rubbish, or trash
12.	a land or region that is devastated or ruined
13.	a land or region that is wild or uncultivated
14.	physiol
	a. the useless products of metabolism
	b. indigestible food residue
15.	disintegrated rock material resulting from erosion
16.	law reduction in the value of an estate caused by act or neglect, esp by a life-tenant

—*adj*
17.	rejected as useless, unwanted, or worthless
18.	produced in excess of what is required
19.	not cultivated, inhabited, or productive: waste land
20.	a. of or denoting the useless products of metabolism
	b. of or denoting indigestible food residue
21.	destroyed, devastated, or ruined
22.	designed to contain or convey waste products
23.	lay waste to devastate or destroy

[C13: from Anglo-French waster, from Latin vastāre to lay waste, from vastus empty]

'wastable

—*adj*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

waste

c.1200, "devastate, ravage, ruin," from Anglo-Fr. and O.N.Fr. waster "to spoil, ruin" (O.Fr. guaster), altered (by influence of Frankish *wostjan) from L. vastare "lay waste," from vastus "empty, desolate, waste" (see vain). The word also existed in O.E. as westan. Meaning

EXPAND

"to lose strength or health; pine; weaken" is attested from c.1300; the sense of "squander, spend or consume uselessly" is first recorded mid-14c.; meaning "to kill" is from 1964. Wasted "intoxicated" is slang from 1950s. The adj. is recorded from late 13c.; waste-water is attested from mid-15c.; waste-paper first recorded 1580s.

waste

c.1200, "desolate regions," from O.Fr. wast, from L. vastum, neut. of vastus "waste" (see waste (v.)); replacing O.E. westen, woesten "a desert, wilderness," from the L. word. Meaning "useless expenditure" is recorded from c.1300; sense of "refuse matter" is attested from

c.1430. Waste basket first recorded 1850.

COLLAPSE

American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

waste (wāst)
v. wast·ed, wast·ing, wastes
To gradually lose energy, strength, or bodily substance, as from disease. n.
The undigested residue of food eliminated from the body; excrement.

American Heritage

Science Dictionary

waste   (wāst) Pronunciation Key
Noun   An unusable or unwanted substance or material, such as a waste product. See also hazardous waste , landfill.

Verb   To lose or cause to lose energy, strength, weight, or vigor, as by the progressive effects of a disease such as metastatic cancer.

Slang Dictionary

waste definition

tv.
to kill someone. (Underworld.) : The mob's triggers sped by in a car and wasted four pushers.

Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source

American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

waste

In addition to the idioms beginning with waste, also see go to waste; haste makes waste; lay waste.