white elephant

noun

Definition of white elephantnext
as in throwaway

Related Words

Relevance

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for white elephant
  1. throwaway
  2. castaway
  3. second
  4. rubbish
  5. trash
  6. waste
  7. scrap
Noun
  • Her reverend stepfather gets a throwaway line, and that’s pretty much it.
    — Lexy Perez, HollywoodReporter, 2 Oct. 2026
  • Robinson’s pressure of Mahomes on the same drive as the penalty forced a throwaway that led to a third-and-14 at the 14-yard line.
    — Omar Kelly, Miami Herald, 27 Sep. 2026
Definition of throwaway
Noun
  • Both are works in that long tradition of castaways forced to survive, but in many ways, Crusoe—a colonist and capitalist and the later a jaundiced observer of the worst excesses of those systems—is the opposite of Gulliver.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 28 Oct. 2026
  • As fans recall, season 50 featured a guest appearance by MrBeast, who challenged the castaways to correctly guess a coin toss to double the $1 million prize.
    — Ingrid Vasquez, PEOPLE, 23 Sep. 2026
Definition of castaway
Noun
  • Segura's first goal of the season came with assists from defender Ryan Porteous — the second of his career — and Leo Walta — his first in his fifth league appearance.
    — CBS News, CBS News, 8 Nov. 2026
  • Bears kicker Yousef Obeid had four field goals in the game, including a 37-yarder that tied it at 20 with 32 seconds left.
    — The Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 8 Nov. 2026
Definition of second
Noun
  • South Africans voted this week in local polls that determine which parties get to control major cities and local municipal districts that are responsible for the delivery of basic services like water, road maintenance and rubbish removal.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 6 Nov. 2026
  • The robots are expected to handle several tasks, including stocking and organizing shelves, preparing coffee and hot food, greeting customers, and clearing rubbish.
    — Jijo Malayil, Interesting Engineering, 2 Nov. 2026
Definition of rubbish
Noun
  • Nominations for the 69th Grammy Awards will be announced Monday morning, capping a year-long pop-music season in which new stars rose, old hands returned and Taylor Swift dropped a song about Cleveland that even people in Ohio decided was trash.
    — Mikael Wood, Los Angeles Times, 11 Nov. 2026
  • This year’s event gathered nearly 11,000 pounds of trash, Getz said, and 1,625 volunteers contributed 15,000 volunteer hours.
    — Erika I. Ritchie, Oc Register, 11 Nov. 2026
Definition of trash
Noun
  • The hotel kitchen partners with Taka Taka Solutions for waste separation and composting.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 6 Nov. 2026
  • In other words, the same brain rhythm that indicates heavy engagement of neural circuits—something likely to produce metabolic waste—also serves as a signal for the brain’s cleanup crew to come in and do their job.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 6 Nov. 2026
Definition of waste
Noun
  • Avoid placing meat scraps or sweet foods, such as fruit and fruit peels, in compost piles.
    — Stephen Underwood, Hartford Courant, 11 Nov. 2026
  • The reef project is intended to prevent it from becoming scrap metal.
    — Andrea Margolis, FOXNews.com, 11 Nov. 2026
Definition of scrap
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

white dwarfs
white elephant
white elephants
See all Nearby Words

Podcast

Theme music by Joshua Stamper ©2006 New Jerusalem Music/ASCAP

Cite this Entry

“White elephant.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/white%20elephant. Accessed 13 Nov. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

31 Useful Rhetorical Devices

More Commonly Misspelled Words

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

The Longest Long Words List

The Words of the Week - Nov. 13

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
speech-bubble-untangle
Simplify The Convoluted Expression Quiz A quiz that’s as “uncomplicated as a round de...
See All