waste
any materials unused and rejected as worthless or unwanted
How often you will meet it
Rank 2,062 of 71,295 words measured. It occurs 8,636 times across 155,139 chapters — 0.004% of every word in the library.
What it means
noun
- any materials unused and rejected as worthless or unwanted also: waste material, waste matter, waste product they collect the waste once a weekmuch of the waste material is carried off in the sewers
- useless or profitless activity; using or expending or consuming thoughtlessly or carelessly also: wastefulness, dissipation if the effort brings no compensating gain it is a wastemindless dissipation of natural resources
- the trait of wasting resources also: thriftlessness, wastefulness a life characterized by thriftlessness and wastethe wastefulness of missed opportunities
- an uninhabited wilderness that is worthless for cultivation also: barren, wasteland the barrens of central Africathe trackless wastes of the desert
- (law) reduction in the value of an estate caused by act or neglect also: permissive waste
verb
- spend thoughtlessly; throw away also: blow, squander He wasted his inheritance on his insincere friendsYou squandered the opportunity to get and advanced degree
- use inefficiently or inappropriately waste heatwaste a joke on an unappreciative audience
- get rid of We waste the dirty water by channeling it into the sewer
waste in real books
Each sentence below was written by a published author and is taken from a different book in our library. Open one to read the passage it came from, with narration.
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But we had no time to waste in ceremonious formalities.
Other People's Money · Emile Gaboriau · Chapter 1
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In fine, Why do you waste their time and mine?
Punchinello, Volume 1, No. 08, May 21, 1870 · Various · Chapter 1
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To see him die, across the waste His son and heir doth ride post-haste, But he’ll be dead before.
Poems Every Child Should Know · Mary E. (Mary Elizabeth) [Editor] Burt · Chapter 1
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In these respects they follow the current which carries a multitude of their elders to mental inefficiency and waste of power.
Famous Stories Every Child Should Know · Hamilton Wright [Editor] Mabie · Chapter 1
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With what wistful look did he eye every trembling ray of light streaming across the waste fields from some distant window!
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow · Washington Irving · Chapter 1