wasteland
noun
waste·land
ˈwāst-ˌland 
also -lənd
1
: barren or uncultivated land
a desert wasteland
2
: an ugly often devastated or barely inhabitable place or area
3
: something (such as a way of life) that is spiritually and emotionally arid and unsatisfying
Examples of wasteland in a Sentence
The outskirts of the city became a grim industrial wasteland.
That part of the country is a cultural wasteland.
the vast wasteland of television
Recent Examples on the Web
Where homes, buildings and fields once stood in the southern city of Rafah, there were now craters and barren wastelands.
—
Stephen Sorace, FOXNews.com, 8 Oct. 2025
New satellite imagery lays bare the sheer scale of the destruction in the Gaza Strip with two years of Israeli bombardment having turned much of the landscape into a wasteland.
—Freddie Clayton, NBC news, 7 Oct. 2025
And then people in the wasteland, the Raiders, are exactly like that.
—Jennifer Maas, Variety, 1 Oct. 2025
Oil was discovered there in the 1920s, and the county went through booms and busts for decades, enriching wildcatters and devastating the landscape, until a lasting bust left Loving County a virtual wasteland with no running water, paved roads, schools, hospitals, or grocery stores.
—Mitch Moxley, Rolling Stone, 27 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for wasteland
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Stephen Sorace, FOXNews.com, 8 Oct. 2025
New satellite imagery lays bare the sheer scale of the destruction in the Gaza Strip with two years of Israeli bombardment having turned much of the landscape into a wasteland.
—Freddie Clayton, NBC news, 7 Oct. 2025
And then people in the wasteland, the Raiders, are exactly like that.
—Jennifer Maas, Variety, 1 Oct. 2025
Oil was discovered there in the 1920s, and the county went through booms and busts for decades, enriching wildcatters and devastating the landscape, until a lasting bust left Loving County a virtual wasteland with no running water, paved roads, schools, hospitals, or grocery stores.
—Mitch Moxley, Rolling Stone, 27 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for wasteland
Cite this Entry
“Wasteland.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wasteland. Accessed 13 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
wasteland
noun
waste·land
ˈwāst-ˌland
1
: land that is not cultivated or not fit for the cultivation of crops
2
: an ugly often ruined place or area
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