white elephant

noun

Definition of white elephantnext
as in throwaway

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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
  • 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
  • Meet the 'Survivor' 51 castaways Are there any players from Michigan on 'Survivor' 51?
    — Sarah Moore, Freep.com, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of castaway
Noun
  • Minnesota went up 1-0 53 seconds into the game on a Matt Boldy snap shot from the point.
    — Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald, 11 Oct. 2026
  • All of that helps the system decide what deserves another few seconds of your attention.
    — Bilin Lin, Fortune, 10 Oct. 2026
Definition of second
Noun
  • Twisted Teens are far from rubbish, but that isn't stopping them from playing in the trash for their latest music video.
    — Nina Corcoran, Pitchfork, 7 Oct. 2026
  • This comes at the expense of no movement in the wrist, but to be fair, having the lightsaber pointed in any other direction would look rubbish.
    — Matt Gardner, Forbes.com, 29 July 2026
Definition of rubbish
Noun
  • Officers in riot gear clashed with youths who set up street barricades using burning trash bins.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 14 Oct. 2026
  • In another demonstration, Argon helped a Boston Dynamics Spot robot practice opening a foot-pedal trash bin in simulation before attempting the task with physical objects.
    — Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 13 Oct. 2026
Definition of trash
Noun
  • While some of the engineering can be precisely calculated — air, water, waste, power, occupancy and storage, for example — other questions around bunker design are murkier.
    — Megan Buerger, Washington Post, 9 Oct. 2026
  • Both gear types are associated with high levels of waste, routinely hauling in large volumes of non-target species.
    — Ian Urbina, Los Angeles Times, 9 Oct. 2026
Definition of waste
Noun
  • The messages, scribbled on whatever scrap of paper a sender could find, often featured misspellings and shaky penmanship; many older residents of rural areas did not know how to read or write well, if at all.
    — Jordan Salama, New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2026
  • Rana, the former engineering student, carries nothing but a pen and a scrap of paper to her lessons.
    — Mark Sappenfield, Christian Science Monitor, 9 Oct. 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
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Cite this Entry

“White elephant.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/white%20elephant. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

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