Nearby Words
adjective
1.
gradually reducing the fullness and strength of the body: a wasting disease.
2.
laying waste; devastating; despoiling: the ravages of a wasting war.
noun
3.
Geology. mass wasting.
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Wasting
is always a great word to know.
So is percolation. Does it mean:
| to dissolve out soluble constituents from ashes and soil by percolation |
| slow movement of water through the pores in soil or permeable rock |
Dictionary.com Unabridged
verb (used with object)
1.
to consume, spend, or employ uselessly or without adequate return; use to no avail or profit; squander: to waste money; to waste words.
2.
to fail or neglect to use: to waste an opportunity.
3.
to destroy or consume gradually; wear away: The waves waste the rock of the shore.
4.
to wear down or reduce in bodily substance, health, or strength; emaciate; enfeeble: to be wasted by disease or hunger.
5.
EXPANDto destroy, devastate, or ruin: a country wasted by a long and futile war.
6.
COLLAPSESlang. to kill or murder.
verb (used without object)
7.
to be consumed, spent, or employed uselessly or without giving full value or being fully utilized or appreciated.
8.
to become gradually consumed, used up, or worn away: A candle wastes in burning.
9.
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.
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.
EXPANDa region or place devastated or ruined: The forest fire left a blackened waste.
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.
COLLAPSEwastes, excrement.
adjective
Idioms26.
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.
EXPANDhaving served or fulfilled a purpose; no longer of use.
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.
COLLAPSEObsolete. excessive; needless.
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)
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
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.
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.
1. save.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To wasting
Collins
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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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, "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
EXPAND c.1430. Waste basket first recorded 1850.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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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.
wasting adj.
Gradually deteriorating; declining.
Sapping the strength or substance of the body, as a disease; emaciating.
Emaciation.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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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. |
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary
waste definition
|
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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