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 of garbage

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

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

For more than a year, an uncontrolled fire had burned in the bowels of the dump, broiling old garbage and sending nauseating fumes into nearby homes. — Rebecca Ellis, Los Angeles Times, 12 July 2026

According to a recent Miami Herald poll, the vast majority of Cubans and Cuban Americans in South Florida think the Cuban government is responsible for the humanitarian crisis on the island, where poverty is extreme and garbage burns in the street. — Syra Ortiz Blanes, Miami Herald, 11 July 2026

Instead, rival parties united in dismissing his actions as a stunt, leaving his only opponent to be a garbage-can wearing comedian whose policies include forcing rule-breaking cyclists to ride unicycles. — Billy Stockwell, CNN Money, 9 July 2026

On Tuesday, explosive devices were planted in a garbage bin and a parked car during Macron's landmark visit to Syria, a country rebuilding from years of civil war. — ABC News, 9 July 2026

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