rubbish

noun

rub·​bish ˈrə-bish 

dialectal -bij

1

: useless waste or rejected matter : trash

2

: something that is worthless or nonsensical

… few real masterpieces are forgotten and not much rubbish survives.

—William Bridges-Adams

rubbishy

ˈrə-bə-shē 

adjective

Synonyms of rubbish

• garbage
• debris
• trash
• junk
• dust

Examples of rubbish in a Sentence

Please, pick the rubbish up off the ground.

I think what he says is absolute rubbish!

“I'm sorry, but I had to do it.” “Rubbish!”

The food at that restaurant is complete rubbish.

Recent Examples on the Web

Local villages are actively monitoring the oceans and reefs in their environment, and backlash to a recent plan from a billionaire Australian to build a giant plant to incinerate rubbish in Fiji was loud and well organized, says Singh. —Michelle Duff, HollywoodReporter, 27 Apr. 2026

Mulhouse Public Prosecutor Nicolas Heitz speaks to the press after a boy was discovered naked and malnourished on a pile of rubbish in a van where he had been kept locked up, in Hagenbach, eastern France, on April 10, 2026. —CBS News, 11 Apr. 2026

Stony rubbish, dead trees, the odd corpse in the garden—nothing that couldn’t be absorbed back into the earth. —Caroline Fraser, The New York Review of Books, 4 Apr. 2026

Is all religion rubbish and still ripping us apart…? —Andy Greene, Rolling Stone, 3 Apr. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Middle English robous

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing rubbish

• rubbish bin
• rubbish tip/dump

Kids Definition

rubbish

noun

rub·​bish ˈrəb-ish 

: useless waste or stuff that has been thrown away : trash

rubbishy

-ē 

adjective