wastage

[ wey-stij ]
See synonyms for wastage on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. loss by use, wear, decay, etc.

  2. loss or losses as the result of wastefulness: The annual wastage of time due to illness is appalling.

  1. the action or process of wasting: the steady wastage of erosion.

  2. something that is wasted; waste or waste materials: The river was befouled by factory wastage.

Origin of wastage

1
First recorded in 1750–60; waste + -age

Words Nearby wastage

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use wastage in a sentence

  • This is the first and principal point at which we can stanch the wastage of teaching energy that now goes on.

    The Salvaging Of Civilisation | H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
  • Seen in this light, infant mortality and the cruel wastage of disease were viewed with complacence.

  • And America continued rich and fat until the World War wastage shrank her to skin and bones again.

    The Iron Puddler | James J. Davis
  • Every hour of youth is precious and this wastage is unspeakably expensive.

    How to Analyze People on Sight | Elsie Lincoln Benedict and Ralph Paine Benedict
  • We have finished what we have to say about the use of food for the repair of bodily wastage.

    Physiology | Ernest G. Martin

British Dictionary definitions for wastage

wastage

/ (ˈweɪstɪdʒ) /


noun
  1. anything lost by wear or waste

  2. the process of wasting

  1. reduction in size of a workforce by retirement, voluntary resignation, etc (esp in the phrase natural wastage)

usage For wastage

Waste and wastage are to some extent interchangeable, but many people think that wastage should not be used to refer to loss resulting from human carelessness, inefficiency, etc: a waste (not a wastage) of time/money/effort etc

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012