waste

1. 1

   Excess of material, useless by-products, or damaged, unsaleable products; garbage; rubbish.countableuncountable

   • Illegal waste dumped near an airport and weighing an estimated 400 tonnes is being sifted through in an attempt to identify those responsible for it.
2. 2

   Excrement or urine.countableuncountable

   • The cage was littered with animal waste.
3. 3

   A wasteland; an uninhabited desolate region; a wilderness or desert.countableuncountable

   • We went down accordingly into the waste, and began to make our toilsome and devious travel towards the eastern verge.
   • The pampas of Argentina and the chilly wastes of Patagonia, like the prairies and deserts of North America, were largely shunned by Spanish settlers until the 1870s.
4. 4

   A place that has been laid waste or destroyed.countableuncountable

5. 5

   A large tract of uncultivated land.countableuncountable

6. 6

   The part of the land of a manor (of whatever size) not used for cultivation or grazing, nowadays treated as common land.countablehistoricaluncountable

7. 7

   A vast expanse of water.countableuncountable

8. 8

   A disused mine or part of one.countableuncountable

9. 9

   The action or progress of wasting; extravagant consumption or ineffectual use.countableuncountable

   • That was a waste of time!
   • Her life seemed a waste.
10. 10

    Large abundance of something, specifically without it being used.countableuncountable

1. 1

   Useless and contemptible.derogatoryslang

   • Niggas moves so waste / Please, come outside the house and show yourself / So I can say it to your face
   • Waste / Don't talk to me / You're so waste

1. 1

   Uncultivated, uninhabited.archaic

   • SOo whanne syr Galahad was departed from the castel of maydens / he rode tyl he came to a waste forest / & there he mette with syre launcelot and syr Percyuale but they knewe hym not / for he was newe desguysed / Ryghte so syr launcelot his
2. 2

   Barren; desert; empty.

   • ‘The stars,’ she whispers, ‘blindly run; ⁠A web is wov’n across the sky; ⁠From out waste places comes a cry, And murmurs from the dying sun: […]
3. 3

   Rejected as being defective; eliminated as being worthless; produced in excess.

   • Oxygen levels on Earth skyrocketed 2.4 billion years ago, when cyanobacteria evolved photosynthesis: the ability to convert water and carbon dioxide into carbohydrates and waste oxygen using solar energy.
4. 4

   Superfluous; needless.

5. 5

   Dismal; gloomy; cheerless.

   • the savage Baron's heart[…] became appalled as he gazed forward into the waste darkness of futurity.
6. 6

   Unfortunate; disappointing.

1. 1

   To devastate; to destroy.transitive

   • Thou barrein ground, whome winters wrath hath wasted, / Art made a myrrour to behold my plight.
   • The Tiber / Insults our walls, and wastes our fruitful grounds.
2. 2

   To squander (money or resources) uselessly; to spend (time) idly; to dissipate.transitive

   • We wasted millions of dollars and several years on that project.
3. 3

   To kill; to murder.slangtransitive

4. 4

   To wear away by degrees; to impair gradually; to deteriorate; to diminish by constant loss; to use up; to consume; to spend; to wear out.transitive

   • until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness
   • Wasted by such a course of life, the infirmities of age daily grew on him.
5. 5

   To gradually lose weight, weaken, become frail.intransitive

6. 6

   To be diminished; to lose bulk, substance, strength, value etc. gradually.intransitive

   • […]The barrell of meale shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oile faile, vntill the day that the Lord sendeth raine vpon the earth.
7. 7

   To damage, impair, or injure (an estate, etc.) voluntarily, or by allowing the buildings, fences, etc., to fall into decay.

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