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

In the vehicle, officers located shopping bags and garbage bags full of merchandise, many of which still had retail security tags attached. —Kelli Arseneau, jsonline.com, 24 Sep. 2025

To deter bears, the AZGFD recommends feeding pets inside, removing uneaten food between feedings, cleaning barbecues and storing garbage in secure areas. —Liz O'Connell, MSNBC Newsweek, 24 Sep. 2025

Yeah, nah, that was hot garbage. —Pete Grathoff, Kansas City Star, 22 Sep. 2025

The suburb’s alleys create the perfect transmission pathway, with no cross-ventilation, open drains clogged with garbage, and families of six huddled in single rooms. —CNN Money, 21 Sep. 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