Synonyms of wastes

wastes 1 of 2

noun

plural of waste

1

as in luxuries

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 & Similar Words

• luxuries
• extravagances
• prodigalities
• wastages
• losses
• dissipations
• indulgences
• splurges
• excesses
• profusions
• profligacies
• overindulgences
• overkills
• self-indulgences
• immoderacies

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• necessities
• savings
• economies
• frugalities
• thrifts
• parsimonies
• conservations
• restraints
• austerities
• temperances
• penny-pinchings
• belt-tightenings
• moderations

2

as in deserts

land that is uninhabited or not fit for crops

an area that was a barren waste after the strip-mining had ended

Synonyms & Similar Words

• deserts
• barrens
• wastelands
• wildernesses
• heaths
• bushes
• desolations
• wilds
• no-man's-lands
• brushes
• badlands
• outdoors
• dust bowls
• natures

3

as in expanses

a wide space or area

a legendary mariner doomed to sail the watery wastes of the world until Judgment Day

Synonyms & Similar Words

• expanses
• expansions
• stretches
• reaches
• plains
• distances
• lengths
• sheets
• depths
• fields
• spreads
• breadths
• territories
• extents
• sweeps
• domains
• voids
• spheres
• spectra
• scales
• spans
• ranges
• extensions
• scopes
• magnitudes
• immensities
• latitudes
• gamuts
• amplitudes
• compasses

4

as in erosions

a gradual weakening, loss, or destruction

the slow waste of the once broad beach by the relentless tide

Synonyms & Similar Words

• erosions
• corrosions
• decays
• decompositions
• breakdowns
• attritions
• disintegrations
• dissolutions

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• increases
• gains
• buildups

wastes

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of waste

1

as in spends

to use up carelessly

he wasted his lottery winnings on booze-soaked nights with gold diggers

Synonyms & Similar Words

• spends
• loses
• squanders
• runs through
• dissipates
• lavishes
• throws away
• blows
• consumes
• misspends
• trifles (away)
• exhausts
• fritters (away)
• depletes
• fiddles away
• plays ducks and drakes with
• impoverishes
• expends
• indulges
• overspends
• disburses
• splurges
• overindulges
• shoots
• lays out

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• conserves
• economizes
• saves
• protects
• preserves
• skimps
• scrimps
• hoards
• lays up

2

as in destroys

to bring to a complete end the physical soundness, existence, or usefulness of

one country attempting to waste another

Synonyms & Similar Words

• destroys
• ruins
• demolishes
• wrecks
• devastates
• shatters
• smashes
• overcomes
• damages
• erodes
• pulverizes
• vaporizes
• annihilates
• desolates
• ravages
• extinguishes
• decimates
• wracks
• cripples
• totals
• mars
• nukes
• tears down
• razes
• rubs out
• kills
• pulls down
• creams
• removes
• breaks
• crushes
• does in
• dismantles
• blasts
• defeats
• spoils
• injures
• harms
• subdues
• conquers
• deteriorates
• disintegrates
• impairs
• licks
• masters
• dissolves
• surmounts
• prevails (over)
• disfigures
• bests
• wins (against)
• thrashes
• mutilates
• trims
• overbears
• eradicates
• clobbers
• triumphs (over)
• despoils
• vitiates
• dynamites
• sweeps (away)
• defaces
• routs
• guts
• whips
• scours
• plunders
• mangles
• blows up
• unmakes
• obliterates
• beats
• scotches
• exterminates
• slaughters
• trounces
• expunges
• undoes
• overmatches
• wears (away)
• wallops
• sacks
• wipes out
• washes out
• liquidates
• trashes
• assassinates
• tramples
• vandalizes
• disassembles
• murders
• extirpates
• loots
• slays
• stamps (out)
• effaces
• pillages
• drubs
• takes down
• blots out
• zaps
• roots (out)
• cuts down
• snuffs (out)
• kills off
• executes
• dispatches
• mows (down)
• skunks
• dilapidates
• takes out
• unbuilds
• fells
• massacres
• butchers
• havocs

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• builds
• raises
• constructs
• repairs
• creates
• sets up
• doctors
• produces
• erects
• fixes
• makes
• rears
• manufactures
• forms
• puts up
• invents
• constitutes
• shapes
• saves
• assembles
• fathers
• protects
• institutes
• establishes
• organizes
• brings about
• reconditions
• fashions
• conserves
• preserves
• frames
• mends
• founds
• patches
• revamps
• molds
• restores
• forges
• fabricates
• reconstructs
• rebuilds
• renovates
• remodels

3

as in weakens

to diminish the physical strength of

endless months of inactivity wasted him

Synonyms & Similar Words

• weakens
• softens
• exhausts
• saps
• hurts
• tires
• injures
• debilitates
• enfeebles
• enervates
• paralyzes
• damages
• depletes
• cripples
• depresses
• devitalizes
• prostrates
• impairs
• harms
• etiolates
• impoverishes
• incapacitates
• disables
• hamstrings
• grinds (down)
• invalids
• wears out
• lays up
• washes out
• wears down
• unmans
• breaks down

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• strengthens
• fortifies
• recruits
• energizes
• invigorates
• rejuvenates
• vitalizes
• seasons
• beefs (up)
• hardens
• toughens

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of wastes

Noun

Sending spent batteries to landfills wastes valuable materials and years of remaining electrochemical life. — IEEE Spectrum, 2 July 2026

Being under 5-foot-4 can make clothes shopping tough—pants drag, dresses hang long, and constant tailoring wastes time and money. — Melony Forcier, InStyle, 24 June 2026

Nolan and the cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema, wielding heavy IMAX cameras, shot their picture across the Mediterranean and beyond, in caves, castles, beaches, black-sand wastes, and open water. — David Denby, New Yorker, 21 June 2026

Buying less food wastes less of it, and the roughly 700 million tons of CO₂ equivalent lost annually to food-system waste scales down with the volume. — Tenzin Seldon, Fortune, 21 June 2026

Every inaccurate retrieval wastes valuable inference cycles. — Chhandomay Mandal, Forbes.com, 18 June 2026

The liver has many functions including producing bile and various proteins, storage of energy, metabolizing nutrients, and, perhaps most significantly, filtering toxins and wastes from the body. — Dr. John De Jong, Boston Herald, 7 June 2026

Depending on soil temperature and moisture, the number of microorganisms in the soil, and the carbon content of the wastes, decomposition will occur in one month to one year to feed plant root systems. — Mary Marlowe Leverette, Southern Living, 24 May 2026

This damage impairs kidney function, preventing the proper production of urine and the elimination of metabolic wastes. — Encyclopedia Britannica, 15 May 2026

Verb

This creates friction, wastes time, and increases exposure to identity fraud, despite the existing technology for digital credentials. — Raj Ananthanpillai, Forbes.com, 19 June 2026

Beth wastes no time shutting down the conversation. — Samantha Stutsman, PEOPLE, 13 June 2026

Instead, Greenbaum, who did far better and smarter work with many of the same people in Too Funny to Fail and Will & Harper, wastes time on a voiceover device that’s too cutesy to be worth the effort and a three-act structure that’s more for the benefit of his editors than the audience. — Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 10 June 2026

Justin Stasiw’s soundscape wastes no time throwing the audience into Mumbai, where vehicles, whistles and rickshaws harshly yet thrillingly enter the ears. — David John Chávez, Mercury News, 3 June 2026

Petras wastes no time arguing this case for herself. — Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 3 June 2026

How the ‘system’ plays In 1958, working-class voters and Democrats were within 5 points of each other on whether government wastes a lot of tax money. — Nicholas Jacobs, The Conversation, 2 June 2026

Noting that many vanities have a false drawer front at the top, which wastes space, Ecklund recommends rethinking it. — Marisa Suzanne Martin, The Spruce, 27 May 2026

But police say the game wastes resources and could have severe unintended consequences. — Peter D'abrosca, FOXNews.com, 22 May 2026