waste

waste

noun

Definition of WASTE

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>

Synonyms extravagance, prodigality

Related Words indulgence, luxury, splurge; loss, wastage; dissipation, profligacy, profusion, squandering, wastefulness; overindulgence, self-indulgence; excess, immoderacy, overkill

Near Antonyms 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>

Synonyms chaff, deadwood, debris, dreck (also drek), dross, dust, effluvium (also effluvia), junk, litter, offal, offscouring, raffle, refuse, riffraff, rubbish, scrap, spilth, trash, truck, waste

Related Words 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 Antonyms catch, gem, goody (or goodie), 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>

Synonyms barren, desert, desolation, heath, no-man's-land, waste

Related Words 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>

Synonyms dirt, doo-doo, dung, excrement, excreta, feces, ordure, poop, scat, slops, soil, waste

Related Words 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>

Synonyms breadth, distance, expansion, extent, field, length, plain, reach, sheet, spread, stretch, waste

Related Words 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>

Synonyms attrition, erosion, undermining, waste

Related Words breakdown, decay, decomposition, disintegration, dissolution

Near Antonyms gain, increase

Antonyms buildup