Waste — Meaning, Definition & Synonyms

noun verb adjective /ˈwāst/

Meaning & Definition of Waste

Waste (noun)

  1. a sparsely settled or barren region, desert
  2. uncultivated land
  3. a broad and empty expanse (as of water)

Waste (verb)

  1. to lay waste; especially, to damage or destroy gradually and progressively
  2. to cause to shrink in physical bulk or strength, emaciate, enfeeble
  3. to wear away or diminish gradually, consume

Waste (adjective)

  1. being wild and uninhabited, desolate
  2. arid, empty
  3. not cultivated, not productive

Waste (noun) — Senses, Synonyms & Antonyms

  1. an instance of spending money or resources without care or restraint

    "it seems like a waste to spend my entire paycheck on a bigger TV"

    similar: extravagance, prodigality
    related: indulgence, luxury, splurge, loss, wastage, dissipation, profligacy, profusion, squandering, wastefulness, overindulgence, self-indulgence, excess, immoderacy, overkill
    near: necessity, belt-tightening, conservation, economizing, economy, frugality, parsimony, penny-pinching, saving, scrimping, skimping, thrift, austerity, moderation, restraint, temperance, temperateness

  2. discarded or useless material

    "gathered up the waste when he was finished sewing"

    similar: chaff, deadwood, debris, dreck, dross, dust, effluvium, garbage, junk, litter, offal, offscouring, raffle, refuse, riffraff, rubbish, scrap, spilth, trash, truck
    related: crud, sewage, slop, swill, wash, detritus, remains, rubble, ruins, dump, scrap heap, lumber, odds and ends, trumpery, flotsam, jetsam, wreckage, castoff, cull, discard, hand-me-down, reject, throwaway, nothing, straw, two bits
    near: catch, gem, goody, jewel, pearl, plum, prize, treasure, treasure trove, trove, valuable, booty, find, salvage

  3. land that is uninhabited or not fit for crops

    "an area that was a barren waste after the strip-mining had ended"

    similar: barren, desert, desolation, heath, no-man's-land, wasteland
    related: badland, brush, bush, dust bowl, open, open air, outdoors, out-of-doors, nature, wild, wilderness

  4. solid matter discharged from an animal's alimentary canal

    "a local ordinance requiring dog owners to properly dispose of their pet's waste"

    similar: dirt, doo-doo, dropping, dung, excrement, excreta, feces, ordure, poop, scat, slops, soil
    related: night soil, stool, dunghill, guano, manure, midden, muck, spoor, sewage, sewerage, coprolite

  5. a wide space or area

    "a legendary mariner doomed to sail the watery wastes of the world until Judgment Day"

    similar: breadth, distance, expanse, expansion, extent, field, length, plain, reach, sheet, spread, stretch
    related: domain, sphere, territory, compass, range, scope, sweep, gamut, scale, spectrum, depth, emptiness, void, extension, latitude, span, amplitude, immensity, magnitude

  6. a gradual weakening, loss, or destruction

    "the slow waste of the once broad beach by the relentless tide"

    similar: attrition, corrosion, erosion, undermining
    related: breakdown, decay, decomposition, disintegration, dissolution
    opposite: buildup
    near: gain, increase

Waste (verb) — Senses, Synonyms & Antonyms

  1. to use up carelessly

    "he wasted his lottery winnings on booze-soaked nights with gold diggers"

    similar: blow, dissipate, fiddle away, fritter (away), lavish, lose, misspend, run through, spend, squander, throw away, trifle (away), play ducks and drakes with
    related: splurge, consume, deplete, exhaust, impoverish, overspend, shoot, indulge, overindulge, disburse, expend, lay out
    opposite: conserve
    near: economize, scrimp, skimp, preserve, protect, save, hoard, lay up

  2. to bring to a complete end the physical soundness, existence, or usefulness of

    "one country attempting to waste another"

    similar: annihilate, cream, decimate, demolish, desolate, destroy, devastate, do in, extinguish, nuke, pull down, pulverize, raze, rub out, ruin, shatter, smash, tear down, total, vaporize, wrack, wreck
    related: beat, best, clobber, conquer, crush, defeat, drub, lick, master, overbear, overcome, overmatch, prevail (over), rout, scotch, skunk, subdue, surmount, thrash, trim, triumph (over), trounce, wallop, whip, win (against), blast, blow up, break, cripple, damage, deface, deteriorate, disfigure, disintegrate, dissolve, dynamite, harm, impair, injure, mangle, mar, mutilate, spoil, vitiate, erode, scour, sweep (away), wash out, wear (away), dilapidate, disassemble, dismantle, gut, take down, unbuild, undo, unmake, blot out, efface, eradicate, expunge, exterminate, extirpate, liquidate, obliterate, remove, root (out), snuff (out), stamp (out), wipe out, despoil, havoc, loot, pillage, plunder, ravage, sack, trample, trash, vandalize, assassinate, butcher, cut down, dispatch, execute, fell, kill, kill off, massacre, mow (down), murder, slaughter, slay, take out, zap
    opposite: build, construct, erect, put up, raise, rear, set up
    near: doctor, fix, mend, patch, recondition, repair, revamp, create, invent, assemble, fabricate, fashion, forge, form, frame, make, manufacture, mold, produce, shape, bring about, constitute, establish, father, found, institute, organize, conserve, preserve, protect, save, rebuild, reconstruct, remodel, renovate, restore

  3. to diminish the physical strength of

    "endless months of inactivity wasted him"

    similar: debilitate, devitalize, enervate, enfeeble, etiolate, prostrate, sap, soften, tire, weaken
    related: cripple, disable, hamstring, incapacitate, deplete, depress, exhaust, impoverish, unman, wash out, damage, harm, hurt, impair, injure, invalid, lay up, break down, grind (down), wear down, wear out, paralyze
    opposite: beef (up), fortify, strengthen
    near: energize, invigorate, recruit, rejuvenate, vitalize, harden, season, toughen

Waste (adjective) — Senses, Synonyms & Antonyms

  1. producing inferior or only a small amount of vegetation

    "waste acreage that was not fit for anything"

    similar: barren, bony, dead, desolate, hardscrabble, impoverished, infertile, poor, stark, unfertile, unproductive
    related: bleak, inhospitable, lifeless, uncultivable, untillable, bankrupted, consumed, debilitated, depleted, diminished, drained, dried-up, enfeebled, exhausted, expended, lessened, reduced, spent, used up, arid, desert, droughty, dry, rainless, sere, thirsty, waterless, baked, dehydrated, parched, sunbaked
    opposite: fertile, fruitful, lush, luxuriant, productive, rich
    near: arable, tillable, green, sylvan, verdant

Related Entry: Waste (away) (verb)

Waste (away) is a different word from Waste. The synonyms below are for waste (away), not for waste.

  1. to lose bodily strength or vigor

    "the tuberculosis resulted in her simply wasting away"

    similar: decay, droop, emaciate, fade, fail, flag, go, lag, languish, sag, sink, weaken, wilt, wither
    related: break down, wear out, yield, degenerate, deteriorate, rot, run down
    near: convalesce, rally, rebound, recover, recuperate, gain

Related Entry: Waste pipe (noun)

Waste pipe is a different word from Waste. The synonyms below are for waste pipe, not for waste.

  1. as in drain, tile

    similar: drain, drainpipe, funnel, hydrant, main, smokestack, spout, standpipe, stovepipe, tile, waterspout, channel, conduit, duct, leader, line, penstock, pipe, trough, tube, pipage, pipeline, piping

Related Entry: Waste pipes (noun)

Waste pipes is a different word from Waste. The synonyms below are for waste pipes, not for waste.

  1. as in drains, tiles

    similar: drainpipes, drains, funnels, hydrants, mains, smokestacks, spouts, standpipes, stovepipes, tiles, waterspouts, channels, conduits, ducts, leaders, lines, penstocks, pipes, troughs, tubes, pipages, pipelines, pipings

Synonyms, Thesaurus & Another Word for Waste

The most common words with a similar meaning to Waste:

extravagance, prodigality, chaff, deadwood, debris, dreck, dross, dust, effluvium, garbage, junk, litter, offal, offscouring, raffle, refuse, riffraff, rubbish, scrap, spilth, trash, truck, barren, desert, desolation, heath, no-man's-land, wasteland, dirt, doo-doo, dropping, dung, excrement, excreta, feces, ordure, poop, scat, slops, soil

Antonyms & Opposite Words for Waste

Words with the opposite meaning of Waste:

buildup, conserve, build, construct, erect, put up, raise, rear, set up, beef (up), fortify, strengthen, fertile, fruitful, lush, luxuriant, productive, rich

Related Words for Waste

indulgence, luxury, splurge, loss, wastage, dissipation, profligacy, profusion, squandering, wastefulness, overindulgence, self-indulgence, excess, immoderacy, overkill, crud, sewage, slop, swill, wash, detritus, remains, rubble, ruins, dump, scrap heap, lumber, odds and ends, trumpery, flotsam

Near Antonyms of Waste

necessity, belt-tightening, conservation, economizing, economy, frugality, parsimony, penny-pinching, saving, scrimping, skimping, thrift, austerity, moderation, restraint, temperance, temperateness, catch, gem, goody, jewel, pearl, plum, prize, treasure, treasure trove, trove, valuable, booty, find

Word Forms of Waste

Inflections: wasted, wasting

Origin & Etymology of Waste

Middle English waste, wast; in sense 1, from Anglo-French wast, from wast, gast, guast, adjective, desolate, waste, from Latin vastus; in other senses, from Middle English wasten to waste vast

First known use: 13th century

Vocabulary Lists & Topics for Waste

Words & Phrases Containing Waste

waste one's breath, waste pipe, waste away, waste bin, waste disposal unit, waste no time, waste not, want not

Frequently Asked Questions about Waste

What does "Waste" mean?

"Waste" means a sparsely settled or barren region, desert. As an a noun, a verb and an adjective, it is defined as: a sparsely settled or barren region, desert. It has 10 distinct senses.

What is another word for "Waste"?

Other words for "Waste" include extravagance, prodigality, chaff, deadwood, debris, dreck, dross and dust. The best synonym depends on which meaning of "Waste" you intend.

What are different ways to say "Waste"?

There are 344 words and phrases with a similar meaning to "Waste". Common alternatives include extravagance, prodigality, chaff, deadwood, debris, dreck, dross, dust, effluvium and garbage.

What is the opposite of "Waste"?

Antonyms of "Waste" include buildup, conserve, build, construct, erect, put up, raise and rear. Near antonyms include necessity, belt-tightening, conservation and economizing.

How do you use "Waste" in a sentence?

Examples of "Waste" in a sentence: "it seems like a waste to spend my entire paycheck on a bigger TV"; "gathered up the waste when he was finished sewing"; "an area that was a barren waste after the strip-mining had ended".

Is "Waste" a noun, verb, or adjective?

"Waste" can be used as a noun, a verb and an adjective, depending on the context.

Is "Waste" useful for IELTS, TOEFL, and other English exams?

As a B1-level word, "Waste" is typical of Cambridge B1 Preliminary (PET), IELTS band 4.0–5.0, TOEFL iBT 42–71, PTE Academic 43–58, TOEIC Listening & Reading 550+.

How do you pronounce "Waste"?

"Waste" is pronounced /ˈwāst/.