garbage

noun

gar·​bage ˈgär-bij 

1

a

: food waste

b

: discarded or useless material

2

a

: trash sense 1b

b

: inaccurate or useless data

Synonyms

• trash
• debris
• rubbish
• junk
• dust
• litter
• truck
• sewage

Examples of garbage in a Sentence

The park was littered with garbage.

Please take out the garbage.

Raccoons were going through the garbage.

Throw the can in the garbage.

If you ask me, what he said is a bunch of garbage.

Recent Examples on the Web

Dowdle and Hubbard combined for 88 rushing yards and a garbage-time touchdown against the Bills. —Mike Kaye, Charlotte Observer, 28 Oct. 2025

As that shimmying is happening, upstairs, the building’s garbage aficionado finds and brings the trio’s destroyed phones to Howard and Thē, who hatch a plan of their own. —Tom Smyth, Vulture, 28 Oct. 2025

Generally, what happens to the White House’s trash is secret—at least as of 2018, which was apparently the last time the federal government released any information on where Oval Office garbage goes. —Nancy Walecki, The Atlantic, 25 Oct. 2025

After an effort to create a Falls of the Ohio national park fell short in 1967, Kentucky and Indiana officials struggled to stop the falls from becoming a garbage dump. —Leo Bertucci, Louisville Courier Journal, 25 Oct. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, "poultry organs and body parts used for food, poultry refuse," borrowed from Anglo-French *garbage (implied in sergant garbagere "kitchen servant tasked with plucking and cleaning poultry"), of obscure origin

Note: On morphological, semantic, or chronological grounds unlikely to be related to Anglo-French garbeler, Middle English garbelen "to remove (impurities) from spices" (see garble entry 1) or to Middle French gaburge, grabuge "quarrel, brawl." The Anglo-French collocation sergant garbagere indicates currency of the word as early as 1318 (Household Ordinances of Edward II).

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing garbage

• a lot of garbage/nonsense
• garbage can
• garbage disposal
• garbage time
• garbage truck

Kids Definition

garbage

noun

gar·​bage ˈgär-bij 

1

: food waste

2

: discarded or useless material : refuse

3

: something inferior, worthless, or useless

a show that's garbage