Definition

Adjective 1. Discarded or disposed of as no longer useful or wanted: Refers to an item that has been cast aside, typically into the trash or a state of abandonment. 2. Wearing cast-off clothing: Describes a person dressed in clothes previously owned and discarded by someone else.

Usage Examples

• The beach was littered with thrown-away bottles and food wrappers.
• She furnished her first apartment with thrown-away items she found on the curb.
• The report highlighted the plight of thrown-away children who are forced to live on the streets.
• He looked poor and thrown-away in his oversized, donated coat.

Advanced Usage

• The term can be used figuratively to describe people or ideas that have been abandoned or rejected by society or a system.
  • The novel focuses on the thrown-away generation of unemployed youth.
• In literary contexts, it can describe a casual, offhand, or deliberately undervalued manner.
  • He delivered the devastating news in a thrown-away remark at the end of his speech.

Variants and Related Words

• Throwaway (adjective): Designed to be discarded after use (e.g., ); or, said or done casually (e.g., ).
• Discarded (adjective): Having been thrown away.
• Cast-off (adjective): Thrown away or rejected; often used for clothing.

Synonyms

• Discarded
• Jettisoned
• Abandoned
• Cast-off
• Rejected

Antonyms

• Kept
• Retained
• Cherished
• Preserved

Related Phrases and Idioms

• To throw away: The verb phrase from which the adjective is derived, meaning to discard something.
  • Don't throw away that letter; it might be important.
• Thrown-away line: A line in a play, song, or speech delivered with deliberate casualness to seem incidental, though it may be significant.
  • The villain's true motive was revealed in a single thrown-away line in Act Two.

Adjective

1. thrown away
   • wearing someone's cast-off clothes
   • throwaway children living on the streets
   • salvaged some thrown-away furniture