Definition

1. Noun:

   • Unwanted or unusable material: Substances or objects that are discarded because they are no longer useful or required.
   • A useless or profitless activity; an act of using something carelessly or extravagantly: An instance of spending or consuming thoughtlessly.
   • A large, empty, or desolate area: An expanse of land that is barren, uninhabited, or devastated.

2. Verb:

   • To use or expend carelessly, extravagantly, or to no purpose: To spend something valuable in a way that is not effective or necessary.
   • To become progressively weaker and thinner, especially due to disease or grief: To decline in physical strength or vitality.
   • To cause severe and extensive damage to an area: To devastate or ruin.
   • To get rid of something as useless.

3. Adjective:

   • Discarded as no longer useful or required: Referring to unwanted by-products or materials.
   • Desolate or barren: Describing land that is uncultivated, uninhabited, or ruined.

Examples of Usage

• Noun:

  • The factory produces a lot of chemical waste. (Referring to unwanted material.)
  • Watching that movie was a complete waste of time. (Referring to a useless activity.)
  • They traveled across the frozen wastes of the Arctic. (Referring to a desolate area.)

• Verb:

  • Don't waste water by leaving the tap running. (To use carelessly.)
  • He began to waste away after the illness. (To become weaker.)
  • The invading army laid waste to the villages. (To devastate.)
  • The plant wastes its by-products into the river. (To get rid of as useless.)

• Adjective:

  • Please put the waste paper in the recycling bin. (Discarded material.)
  • They built a house on a waste piece of land. (Barren or unused land.)

Advanced Usage

• "To go to waste": To be unused and therefore spoiled or lost.

  • It's a shame to let all this good food go to waste.

• "A waste of space" (Idiomatic): A person or thing considered completely useless or ineffective.

  • That old sofa is just a waste of space in the living room.

• "Waste not, want not" (Proverb): If you do not waste anything, you will always have enough.

  • My grandmother always saved everything, believing in 'waste not, want not'.

Variants and Related Words

• Wastage (n): The amount of something that is wasted.

  • The wastage of materials in the process is very high.

• Wasteful (adj): Using or expending something carelessly and extravagantly.

  • Leaving lights on is a wasteful habit.

• Wasteland (n): An area of land that is barren or uncultivated.

  • The project aims to turn the industrial wasteland into a park.

Synonyms

• Squander (v): To waste something, especially money or time, in a reckless or foolish manner.
• Refuse (n): Matter thrown away as worthless; trash.
• Desolate (adj): Deserted of people and in a state of bleak emptiness.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Waste away: To gradually become thinner and weaker, usually due to illness.

  • She wasted away in the final stages of the disease.

• Waste on: To use something valuable for a person or purpose that does not appreciate or deserve it.

  • Don't waste your advice on him; he never listens.

Related Idioms

• Lay waste to: To completely destroy or devastate an area.

  • The fire laid waste to the entire forest.

• Haste makes waste: Acting too quickly can lead to mistakes that cause you to waste time or resources.

  • Take your time with the wiring. Remember, haste makes waste.

Adjective

1. located in a dismal or remote area; desolate
   • a desert island
   • a godforsaken wilderness crossroads
   • a wild stretch of land
   • waste places

Noun

1. (law) reduction in the value of an estate caused by act or neglect
2. an uninhabited wilderness that is worthless for cultivation
   • the barrens of central Africa
   • the trackless wastes of the desert
3. the trait of wasting resources
   • a life characterized by thriftlessness and waste
   • the wastefulness of missed opportunities
4. useless or profitless activity; using or expending or consuming thoughtlessly or carelessly
   • if the effort brings no compensating gain it is a waste
   • mindless dissipation of natural resources
5. any materials unused and rejected as worthless or unwanted
   • they collect the waste once a week
   • much of the waste material is carried off in the sewers

Verb

1. become physically weaker
   • Political prisoners are wasting away in many prisons all over the world
2. cause extensive destruction or ruin utterly
   • The enemy lay waste to the countryside after the invasion
3. cause to grow thin or weak
   • The treatment emaciated him
4. lose vigor, health, or flesh, as through grief
   • After her husband died, she just pined away
5. spend extravagantly
   • waste not, want not
6. get rid of (someone who may be a threat) by killing
   • The mafia liquidated the informer
   • the double agent was neutralized
7. run off as waste
   • The water wastes back into the ocean
8. get rid of
   • We waste the dirty water by channeling it into the sewer
9. use inefficiently or inappropriately
   • waste heat
   • waste a joke on an unappreciative audience
10. spend thoughtlessly; throw away
    • He wasted his inheritance on his insincere friends
    • You squandered the opportunity to get and advanced degree