| 释义 |
Definition of waste in English: wasteverb weɪstweɪst 1with object Use or expend carelessly, extravagantly, or to no purpose. we can't afford to waste electricity I don't use the car, so why should I waste precious money on it? Example sentencesExamples - With so little of my book written and so little time to finish it, I can not really afford to waste time.
- Frankly I can't afford to go wasting fifteen quid on something as needless as this.
- The conclusion is that £434,950 a year is being wasted on heating and electricity: money that could be saved if the buildings were more energy efficient.
- The kids had left her in the darkness, knowing the overseers would have punished them for wasting electricity.
- In the latter case the holding of the meeting would have served no useful purpose and would merely waste the available assets of the bankrupt's estate.
- Don't try to scream, for you will just waste your energy.
- And I wonder whether I wasted what is the best time to make friends.
- Mom said they couldn't afford to waste anything right now.
- Then again, both of the fellows in question drove expensive imported cars, so they probably can't afford to waste a cent extra if they want to keep up with their repayments.
- Money is going to be wasted on this project even before it begins.
- Electricity from excess illumination wastes an enormous amount of energy needlessly.
- She wasn't about to waste anymore of her precious resting time.
- Why waste all this money on allowances, mayoral houses, mayoral vehicles, meetings, workshops, etc?
- Why waste all that money on TV ads?
- By that action, we also don't waste so many natural resources.
- Nobody wants to see valuable funds wasted on pet projects.
- A leaking tap, for instance, can waste up to 90 litres per day.
- Here he argued that Russians themselves did not want to make peace with Napoleon, and consequently Britain had no purpose in wasting its gold to invoke mutual hatred.
- In actuality, we are wasting too much energy at home, on streets and elsewhere.
- One-third to one-half of all the energy consumed by small business is wasted through inefficiency.
Synonyms squander, fritter away, misspend, misuse, spend recklessly, throw away, lavish, be wasteful with, dissipate, spend like water, throw around like confetti go through, run through, exhaust, drain, deplete, burn up, use up, consume informal blow, splurge - 1.1 Expend on an unappreciative recipient.
her small talk was wasted on this guest Example sentencesExamples - But like all other science and math teachers, his efforts were wasted on me.
- If, as the adage goes, education is wasted on the young, it is tempting to wonder whether democracy is not wasted on voters.
- I've said it before (well, sort of), and I'll say it again, school is wasted on kids.
- They say youth is wasted on the young and experience on the retired.
- Even when manners are wasted on the recipient, it is important to present the example of civilized behavior.
- It was widely assumed that the expense of higher education was wasted on girls.
- It is in this hollowness that your words are wasted on an inattentive me.
- Yet this creed is wasted on Shanghai youth whose nostalgia keeps them glued to the city.
- Some books are wasted on children.
- The irony was wasted on the Americans as they swarmed down the crumbling alleys.
- She spares her children - an act of generosity that is wasted on them.
- By now I realised that singing lessons were wasted on the likes of me.
- The sardonic humour was wasted on him, and he begged me to give him the inside track on what drugs to take to win gold without the eternal shame of a life ban.
- Holidays are wasted on those not in full-time employment!
- At the age of 57 he is still out there rocking harder than those a third of his age - a shining example that youth is wasted on the young.
- I'm not a bad loser, it's more that I think the sensation of losing is wasted on me, whereas it's quite good for their development for them to feel it.
- These are the sort of cellphones that are wasted on techno illiterates like me.
- It is believed that education is wasted on girls, who will marry and take their wage-earning abilities to another household.
- I guess that college, like youth, is wasted on the young.
- Maybe so, but I have long said that wealth is wasted on the old.
- 1.2 Fail to make full or good use of.
Example sentencesExamples - Well, film lovers too feel that such talent should not be wasted in insignificant roles!
- I think she is wasting what once was a great talent.
- The supporting actors' talents are wasted in standard-issue roles.
- He really is one of those guys who is wasted at his current job.
- He is likewise wasted as a curly-haired dad whose sole job seems to be hugging his daughter.
- England's captain had given the ball away all afternoon, but he does not waste too many crossing opportunities.
- The only likable character was Pacey, and he was wasted during the season.
- Nancy Travis shows up for a few scenes as John's live-in girlfriend, but her character is sorely wasted.
- The best actors are wasted on one-note parental roles.
- The film's approach to its cast is a textbook example of how to waste actors.
- Too bad those nice eyes are wasted on this jerk of a man.
- Goodman makes sure none of his employees are wasted.
- Russell is wasted in what is essentially a standard supportive wife role.
- There was no way I could stand another year in Andrews in my pathetic job which wasted my talents.
- Elsewhere the vocal strength is wasted on dull content and music which has had much of the soul digitally removed from it.
- An interesting thesis is wasted on a far too superficial script with some decent make-up effects.
- It just seemed to me that the tropical island setting was totally wasted.
- She is mostly wasted here, with little to do but putter around and slowly decline.
- It's a shame that his acting abilities are wasted on such inconsequential drivel like this.
- 1.3 Deliberately dispose of (surplus stock)
20% of stock will need to be wasted
2no object (of a person or a part of the body) become progressively weaker and more emaciated. she was visibly wasting away Example sentencesExamples - Surely, it's time. He is wasting away and at 83 is so tired.
- He saw people being murdered and people wasting away.
- He very convincingly portrayed a man struggling against a disease that meant he was wasting away in order to get something of extreme importance done.
- Look at you, you're wasting away and you're too scared to go run back home.
- Motor neurone disease affects the nerves to all the muscles in the body and victims gradually waste away.
- So far, the clinical trials have focused on patients with arthritis, wasting syndrome and high cholesterol.
- We will have to feed you up Juliet you are quite wasting away
- When I was younger, my grandfather slowly wasted away, through nothing more than old age, but long before he died, he had lost all his mental faculties, and also any control over his body.
- I could not sit up because my muscles had wasted away.
- For people wasting away from the side effects of chemotherapy, this could be a small bit of very good news, indeed.
- It was heartbreaking to watch he and his brother literally wasting away, without hope of recovery.
- I have to be reassured by my wife that I am not wasting away, a bit like ‘does my bum look big in this?’
- She was wasting away, but still had a sort of decaying beauty.
- I still fancy him to bits, but I get a fright every time I set eyes on him: He's literally wasted away in front of my eyes these past few weeks.
- Spinal muscular atrophy makes muscles waste away and is incurable.
- Patients with wasting diseases were revitalised by drugs which stimulated the synthesis of protein, the key ingredient of muscle, bone and skin.
- I am not wasting away, I am seldom ill and always recover quickly.
- He's wasting away, and there's nothing the healers can do.
- While her brain remained sharp, her body wasted away.
- Somethings certainly have improved, many people are looking healthier, but they have discovered a new area where people are wasting away.
Synonyms grow weak, wither, atrophy, become emaciated, shrivel up, shrink, decay decline, wilt, fade, flag, deteriorate, degenerate, rot, moulder, languish, be abandoned, be neglected, be forgotten, be disregarded - 2.1archaic with object Make progressively weaker and more emaciated.
these symptoms wasted the patients very much
3literary with object Devastate or ruin (a place) he seized their cattle and wasted their country Example sentencesExamples - They proceed to unleash the monsters across the globe, who do what comes naturally, and start wasting cities.
Synonyms destroy, devastate, lay waste, leave in ruins, wreak havoc on, ravage, leave desolate - 3.1North American informal with object Kill or severely injure (someone)
I saw them waste the guy I worked for Example sentencesExamples - Sure enough, three of them leap at him, sensing the boy as the most powerful, planning to waste him.
- If you're an extreme utilitarian, you might just accept the calculation at face value and waste the little guy.
- I didn't want him dead, he was too good at what he did for me to waste him like that.
- But nobody ever pulls out a grenade launcher and wastes the guy with the battle ax.
- I'd like to fight somebody with a black belt and waste them.
- But now the military's fresh faces can get a bit of the comforts of home - by wasting their pals in an online game.
- Each of you wasted a person who was infinitely more talented than you, and for what?
Synonyms murder, kill, do away with, assassinate, liquidate, do to death, eliminate, terminate, dispatch, finish off, put to death, execute slaughter, butcher, massacre, wipe out, destroy, annihilate, eradicate, exterminate, extirpate, decimate, mow down, shoot down, cut down, cut to pieces informal bump off, polish off, do in, knock off, top, take out, croak, stiff North American informal ice, off, rub out, whack, smoke literary slay
4literary no object (of time) pass away.
adjective weɪstweɪst 1(of a material, substance, or by-product) eliminated or discarded as no longer useful or required after the completion of a process. ensure that waste materials are disposed of responsibly plants produce oxygen as a waste product Example sentencesExamples - One such body function is the occasional need to eliminate accumulated waste gases from the digestive tract.
- The lungs also contribute to this process by eliminating carbon dioxide which is the waste byproduct of glucose and lactic acid metabolism.
- Each stage in the production process uses the waste material of the previous one as its feedstock.
- Constructed wetlands have advantages over other means of treating waste water because they require little energy, chemical input or maintenance.
- This contract also excludes liability in respect of disposal or dumping of any waste materials or substances.
- They were taught how to make useful products out of waste paper, at a training programme held recently.
- It is proposed that the waste timber product would be obtained from local forestry residues including thinnings.
- The conference, to be held in Tidworth in November, will show how thinking about rubbish as a raw material rather than a waste product can benefit businesses.
- All our diseases are explained on the basis of deposition and fermentation of waste substances.
- Then they will ship the bulk samples to Iqaluit for crushing and sorting, to separate the sapphire material from waste rock.
- He introduced us to a product that recycles waste plastic into fuel that was invented in Japan.
- They can be made with simple materials such as waste paper.
- Roof felts are essentially scrap paper bonded together with bitumen, a waste oil product that is put on the felt to saturate it.
- Aquatic plant material and waste grain left in plowed fields make up the majority of the Canada Goose's diet.
- Local miners have been digging and collecting here for several years, moving many tons of overburden soil and waste rock in the process.
- The reporter asked to see how he processed his own waste water and he agreed.
- The reef mines sank far underground, and used expensive machinery and complex metallurgical processes to separate the gold from the waste rock.
- The incineration process produces a residual waste ash, which has to be transported and disposed of by landfilling.
- He is also using the same process to turn waste wood from demolished buildings into biofibres that can then be used to make high-performance materials.
- Paul sends me this story about a process to convert any waste matter into oil, gas and water.
Synonyms unwanted, excess, superfluous, left over, scrap, extra, unused, useless, worthless unproductive, unusable, unprofitable 2(of an area of land, typically an urban one) not used, cultivated, or built on. Example sentencesExamples - I am referring to Manchester Road Park which is an absolute disgrace and resembles a waste ground rather than a recreation area.
- Plans to transform waste ground in Westhoughton into a residential area have been given a cautious welcome.
- However to the West of the estate lies an expanse of waste ground and swampland which very nearly cost the life of a young boy from the estate.
- She knew he smoked in the waste area where the youths hung out and when he came home his clothes reeked of the weed.
- The idea is to focus attention on problem areas which might otherwise be disregarded - such as waste ground - and to set a bench-mark for authorities to improve on.
- He is surrounded by the detritus of his addiction in a waste area in the middle of a rubbish dump.
- Adding a 15m telephone mast and all its associated equipment would further make this waste area even more of an eyesore.
- Thanks to the effort of local people, that derelict piece of waste ground has now been transformed into a thriving urban nature park.
- A major new leisure complex could be on the way for Burnley if plans to develop waste ground get the go-ahead.
- It grows in pastures, cultivated fields, and waste places.
- Both crops also prevent erosion and provide revenue to offset the costs of managing waste sites.
- Eighteen months ago, two factories on North Road were closed down and demolished, leaving a waste area which has become a dump.
- Empty lager cans, plastic cider bottles and broken glass have turned the popular dog-walking area into waste ground.
- The facilities will be installed on an area of waste ground between the primary school and Westfield Road, and it is hoped that it will be open in time for the summer holidays.
Synonyms uncultivated, barren, desert, unproductive, infertile, unfruitful, arid, bare desolate, solitary, lonely, empty, void, uninhabited, unpopulated wild
noun weɪstweɪst 1An act or instance of using or expending something carelessly, extravagantly, or to no purpose. it's a waste of time trying to argue with him mass noun they had learned to avoid waste Example sentencesExamples - We went for a weekend, which on the face of it sounds like an extravagant waste of time, but was actually painlessly good fun.
- What exactly he intended with this disgusting waste of celluloid is a complete mystery.
- When they barely had power for lighting it seemed an extravagant waste.
- It's a waste of time, a waste of your money, a waste of your life.
- In fact he reckons it's a giant waste of taxpayer's money.
- Most replies wanted the cheapest option and thought the council a waste of money.
- You might think the opposition would savage such a profligate waste of taxpayers' money.
- Elections even at a state level cost money and both parties wish to avoid an unnecessary waste of money by contesting in an election that they will lose.
- But parents see this as a waste of taxpayers' money.
- These little actions are a waste of time, money and efforts.
- Is funding a project like this a good idea or a waste of money?
- It might be a waste of water, but in an extreme case it is a better alternative than a frozen, busted pipe on a freezing winter night.
- Others have called the project a waste of taxpayers' money.
- Not surprisingly, the opinion of the people sitting around me was that the blimp was an absurd waste of taxpayer money.
- I have a whole rant about my sister's presence and the waste of money it was to bring her here to do nothing but sit around and watch television, but that's been said and done already.
- It was an inappropriate appointment, in that it was clearly a dismal waste of his extravagant talents.
- The waste of energy can hit the environment hard.
- So, in fact, that process has been a complete waste of time.
- And I don't know if I'm more afraid that it will be the hugest, grossest waste of my time ever, or that I will actually enjoy it.
- The waste of talent in our country and in our world today is an affront.
Synonyms squandering, dissipation, frittering away, misspending, misuse, misapplication, misemployment, abuse prodigality, extravagance, wastefulness, lavishness, unthriftiness - 1.1archaic mass noun The gradual loss or diminution of something.
he was pale and weak from waste of blood Synonyms deprivation, disappearance, losing, privation, forfeiture, squandering, dissipation
2also wastesmass noun Unwanted or unusable material, substances, or by-products. hazardous industrial wastes Example sentencesExamples - Companies didn't stop dumping toxic wastes into rivers because the government asked them nicely.
- Many are turned into cesspools and dumping sites for solid waste, including hazardous materials.
- We see everyday how people still dump their waste carelessly.
- York council chiefs announced plans to dump regular weekly rubbish collections in an attempt to recycle more garden waste.
- Hazardous wastes should not be put out with normal household waste for landfill.
- Americans are right to refuse truckloads of garbage that contain biomedical waste and radioactive material.
- The council has tried to address the problem of illegally dumped rubbish by organising free collections of household waste including unwanted fridges.
- We can't carry on as we are, throwing away huge quantities of recyclable waste every year.
- I already compost my garden and kitchen waste in my two compost bins.
- If done properly, the garden waste you use now will be completely broken down into lovely rich soil at winter's end.
- By 2010, Massachusetts wants to reduce municipal solid waste by 70 percent statewide.
- The two warehouses will be used to store low-level radioactive waste generated by the two plants.
- Thousands drowned in the murky brew that was soon contaminated by sewage and industrial waste.
- Composting turns household wastes into valuable fertilizer and soil organic matter.
- Again I noticed another reduction in the amount of waste in my bin.
- A nearly inert material, concrete is suitable as a medium for recycling waste or industrial by-products.
- The committee asks those responsible to refrain from dumping household waste in this bin.
- Failing to cover body wastes in open latrines promoted the spread of disease by flies.
- Concern arises because landfill sites are the primary means of disposing millions of tonnes of hazardous industrial waste.
- The Department of Defense produces more hazardous waste per year than the five largest U.S. chemical companies combined.
Synonyms rubbish, refuse, litter, debris, dross, junk, detritus, scrap dregs, leavings, remains, scraps, offscourings sewage, effluent, effluvium North American garbage, trash 3usually wastesA large area of barren, typically uninhabited land. the icy wastes of the Antarctic Example sentencesExamples - That will see him traversing the Americas, covering the 25,000 kilometres from Ushuia, the world's most southern city, up to the icy wastes of Alaska.
- Remote and romantic they might seem from afar, but the desert wastes of the Western Sahara are echoing to the sounds of preparation for war.
- What tugs at Carlyon's heartstrings is the fate of the soldiers, the boys from the outback and the small towns who dreamed of glory but found only death and disaster in the barren wastes of Gallipoli.
- He comes up with such treasures as, ‘Claustrophobia and agoraphobia in the same place - like two people in a bed,’ in reference to his failed relationship and the icy wastes around him.
- They are famed for their ability to operate at sea, in the jungle or in the Arctic wastes and freezing cold of Norway.
- It might add interest to what has become a long chase across desert wastes.
- The images are crystal clear because it is now spring in the frozen wastes of the Martian poles.
- European navigators and adventurers were tantalized for centuries by reports of a sea passage linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in icy wastes north of Canada.
- A rare silver arctic fox, a tough breed used to treading the icy wastes of Alaska and Canada, has been given a new home and a warm welcome at Selby Animal Sanctuary.
- I crave snow-topped mountains, dreary wastes, and the cruel Northern sea with its hard horizons at the edge of the world where infinite space begins.
- Outside the barren wastes of the Western Sahara, few people will be holding their breath to see what the UN security council does next week about the world's most obscure and long-running conflict.
- There are a variety of locations in the game - from towns to jungles to snowy wastes to an aircraft carrier - and they all look absolutely authentic.
- I do not know what happened to him after they cast him into the southern wastes by the sea.
- His hair was long, lank and bright red, and his skin as pale as the icy wastes beyond.
- There were French partridges, a hare crossed the icy wastes leaving stretched-out tracks and we discussed the advantage of stiffer soled boots for snow and the necessity of shades.
- As well as mass genocide, Stalin tore thousands of families apart by exiling men to the icy wastes of Siberia.
- From the icy wastes to the arid deserts and lush forests, it has carved out habitats and multiplied.
- Numerous artists are leaving the city garret behind and getting out into the great outdoors as the icy white wastes lure their imagination.
- Her mouth and throat were as dry as the desert wastes.
- Armoured warfare on the plains of west and central Europe is very different from internal security operations in an urban area or patrolling across desert wastes in the sub-Sahara.
Synonyms desert, wasteland, wilderness, barrenness, emptiness, vastness, wilds 4Law
mass noun Damage to an estate caused by an act or by neglect, especially by a life tenant. Example sentencesExamples - If a mortgagee enters into possession he is liable to account for rent on the basis of wilful default; he must keep mortgage premises in repair; he is liable for waste.
Phrases Be unused or expended to no purpose. it would be a terrible shame to see those years go to waste Example sentencesExamples - Another reason I have started the practice at least on a small scale is that I hate to see so much potential going to waste.
- Often patients fail to turn up without any warning and it means their slot, which could have been taken by someone else, goes to waste.
- Water is going to waste while others are without this vital commodity.
- It was just a hobby, I didn't like to see anything going to waste.
- Planning your meals ahead may save you money and lots of food and drink going to waste in the bin or down the drain
- That is why even today all the rice that is grown in Western Province goes to waste because there is no market for it.
- Most students do not know about this book dumping, and great books are going to waste.
- With a daily outflow of 450 million litres, that's a lot of potentially very useful water going to waste.
- The coffee harvest has been going to waste, everyday life has been disrupted.
- Did the parents who saw their kids at the protest have any concerns about their tuition dollars going to waste?
lay waste to (or lay something (to) waste) Example sentencesExamples - In fact, he even proposed that Athenians lay waste to their own lands to deny the Spartan army resources and the opportunity to do so itself; but he knew this was an unrealistic request of the people.
- Their cities would be laid waste, their lands desolate.
- Not for Napoleon the debate over animal waste in the food chain - he was too busy laying waste large tracts of Europe.
- ‘I speak for those whose land is being laid waste, whose homes are being destroyed, whose culture is being subverted,’ he said.
- This was then the period of the laying waste of the agricultural lands in the North.
- The destructive winds that lay waste the coast of Florida and various Caribbean islands pass through between September and November, a time when people batten down the hatches and hope for the best.
- The city of Jerusalem, laid waste and destroyed by the Babylonians as an act of divine judgment, is described as having lost all its beauty.
- And the other thing about Hitler, of course, was his complacent conviction of the superiority of the German people - and of his right to wage unprovoked war and lay waste to other nations in their name.
- Factories sprang up like fungi while the countryside was laid waste.
- The Northumbrians rebelled and in devastating reprisals their lands were laid to waste for several generations.
Synonyms devastate, wipe out, destroy, demolish, annihilate, raze, ruin, leave in ruins, wreck, level, flatten, gut, consume, ravage, pillage, sack, wreak havoc on
informal A person regarded as useless or incompetent. you're such a waste of space, Rodney Example sentencesExamples - I suppose according to the values of our society at present that makes me lazy, a waste of space.
- He's got it into his head he'll never be able to walk again, wouldn't be able to do anything and he's now a waste of space.
- It's a good idea, if you can, to defend yourself against the accusation of being a waste of space by making yourself good company.
- Wake up, you waste of space, we've got work to do!
- I reckon we should start a list, outing all incompetents for the absolute waste of space they are.
- Well you're obviously a complete waste of space as an office manager.
- Without the shining achievements of these few, the human race would be a waste of space.
- He is a complete waste of space and must be infuriating to play with.
- But personally, I'd rather just keep on eating these delicious cupcakes that Kit made for me, drink too much with my friends tonight, and be a waste of space at work tomorrow.
- Everyone else is either a traitor or just a waste of space.
proverb If you use a commodity or resource carefully and without extravagance you will never be in need. Example sentencesExamples - I don't know how I'm going to work the Christmas theme into this shot of me as a post-autopsy coroner standing smugly over a body and holding a jar of entrails… but look, waste not, want not.
- How do you feel the statement waste not want not applies in you life?
- In sports, the city's credo was waste not, want not.
- It's time to kiss those landfill-clogging sandwich baggies goodbye and move into the waste not, want not 21st century.
- Whatever the God implied by evolutionary theory and the data of natural history may be like, He is not the Protestant God of waste not, want not.
- On the principle of waste not, want not, I've pasted some material below that was originally intended for New York Press.
- Waste not, want not applies to our spending habits too.
Derivatives adjective Animation, a by-necessity wasteless industry, typically tells its story as spartanly as possible due to budgetary constraints. Example sentencesExamples - ‘Even in the zones where source segregation was being done, the corporation was mixing the waste, making the whole effort pointless,’ he said, stressing the need for a common agenda on creating a wasteless society.
- This wasteless method is described on the next page.
- In order to demonstrate an automated wasteless molding process, a valve-gated cold runner was selected.
- The use of the new wasteless technology of production of soap chips gives opportunity to accomplish several topical tasks in traditional methods of production.
Origin Middle English: from Old Northern French wast(e) (noun), waster (verb), based on Latin vastus 'unoccupied, uncultivated'. This is from Old French waster, based on Latin vastus ‘unoccupied, uncultivated’. The idiomatic phrase lay waste dates from the early 16th century; waste in the sense ‘refuse’ is found from the late 17th century.
Rhymes barefaced, baste, boldfaced, chaste, haste, lambaste, paste, po-faced, red-faced, self-faced, shamefaced, smooth-faced, strait-laced, taste, unplaced, untraced, waist Definition of waste in US English: wasteverbwāstweɪst 1with object Use or expend carelessly, extravagantly, or to no purpose. we can't afford to waste electricity I don't use the car, so why should I waste precious money on it? Example sentencesExamples - The conclusion is that £434,950 a year is being wasted on heating and electricity: money that could be saved if the buildings were more energy efficient.
- Nobody wants to see valuable funds wasted on pet projects.
- Mom said they couldn't afford to waste anything right now.
- The kids had left her in the darkness, knowing the overseers would have punished them for wasting electricity.
- One-third to one-half of all the energy consumed by small business is wasted through inefficiency.
- Frankly I can't afford to go wasting fifteen quid on something as needless as this.
- By that action, we also don't waste so many natural resources.
- In actuality, we are wasting too much energy at home, on streets and elsewhere.
- A leaking tap, for instance, can waste up to 90 litres per day.
- Why waste all that money on TV ads?
- Why waste all this money on allowances, mayoral houses, mayoral vehicles, meetings, workshops, etc?
- She wasn't about to waste anymore of her precious resting time.
- And I wonder whether I wasted what is the best time to make friends.
- Then again, both of the fellows in question drove expensive imported cars, so they probably can't afford to waste a cent extra if they want to keep up with their repayments.
- With so little of my book written and so little time to finish it, I can not really afford to waste time.
- Don't try to scream, for you will just waste your energy.
- Electricity from excess illumination wastes an enormous amount of energy needlessly.
- Money is going to be wasted on this project even before it begins.
- Here he argued that Russians themselves did not want to make peace with Napoleon, and consequently Britain had no purpose in wasting its gold to invoke mutual hatred.
- In the latter case the holding of the meeting would have served no useful purpose and would merely waste the available assets of the bankrupt's estate.
Synonyms squander, fritter away, misspend, misuse, spend recklessly, throw away, lavish, be wasteful with, dissipate, spend like water, throw around like confetti - 1.1usually be wasted on Bestow or expend on an unappreciative recipient.
her small talk was wasted on this guest Example sentencesExamples - They say youth is wasted on the young and experience on the retired.
- By now I realised that singing lessons were wasted on the likes of me.
- It is believed that education is wasted on girls, who will marry and take their wage-earning abilities to another household.
- It is in this hollowness that your words are wasted on an inattentive me.
- At the age of 57 he is still out there rocking harder than those a third of his age - a shining example that youth is wasted on the young.
- I've said it before (well, sort of), and I'll say it again, school is wasted on kids.
- Even when manners are wasted on the recipient, it is important to present the example of civilized behavior.
- The sardonic humour was wasted on him, and he begged me to give him the inside track on what drugs to take to win gold without the eternal shame of a life ban.
- I guess that college, like youth, is wasted on the young.
- These are the sort of cellphones that are wasted on techno illiterates like me.
- Some books are wasted on children.
- The irony was wasted on the Americans as they swarmed down the crumbling alleys.
- If, as the adage goes, education is wasted on the young, it is tempting to wonder whether democracy is not wasted on voters.
- She spares her children - an act of generosity that is wasted on them.
- Holidays are wasted on those not in full-time employment!
- I'm not a bad loser, it's more that I think the sensation of losing is wasted on me, whereas it's quite good for their development for them to feel it.
- Yet this creed is wasted on Shanghai youth whose nostalgia keeps them glued to the city.
- It was widely assumed that the expense of higher education was wasted on girls.
- But like all other science and math teachers, his efforts were wasted on me.
- Maybe so, but I have long said that wealth is wasted on the old.
- 1.2usually be wasted Fail to make full or good use of.
Example sentencesExamples - The only likable character was Pacey, and he was wasted during the season.
- Russell is wasted in what is essentially a standard supportive wife role.
- Too bad those nice eyes are wasted on this jerk of a man.
- There was no way I could stand another year in Andrews in my pathetic job which wasted my talents.
- Well, film lovers too feel that such talent should not be wasted in insignificant roles!
- She is mostly wasted here, with little to do but putter around and slowly decline.
- An interesting thesis is wasted on a far too superficial script with some decent make-up effects.
- It's a shame that his acting abilities are wasted on such inconsequential drivel like this.
- England's captain had given the ball away all afternoon, but he does not waste too many crossing opportunities.
- He really is one of those guys who is wasted at his current job.
- The supporting actors' talents are wasted in standard-issue roles.
- I think she is wasting what once was a great talent.
- Goodman makes sure none of his employees are wasted.
- He is likewise wasted as a curly-haired dad whose sole job seems to be hugging his daughter.
- Nancy Travis shows up for a few scenes as John's live-in girlfriend, but her character is sorely wasted.
- It just seemed to me that the tropical island setting was totally wasted.
- The best actors are wasted on one-note parental roles.
- Elsewhere the vocal strength is wasted on dull content and music which has had much of the soul digitally removed from it.
- The film's approach to its cast is a textbook example of how to waste actors.
2no object (of a person or a part of the body) become progressively weaker and more emaciated. she was visibly wasting away Example sentencesExamples - Motor neurone disease affects the nerves to all the muscles in the body and victims gradually waste away.
- It was heartbreaking to watch he and his brother literally wasting away, without hope of recovery.
- So far, the clinical trials have focused on patients with arthritis, wasting syndrome and high cholesterol.
- Surely, it's time. He is wasting away and at 83 is so tired.
- Somethings certainly have improved, many people are looking healthier, but they have discovered a new area where people are wasting away.
- I am not wasting away, I am seldom ill and always recover quickly.
- Look at you, you're wasting away and you're too scared to go run back home.
- I still fancy him to bits, but I get a fright every time I set eyes on him: He's literally wasted away in front of my eyes these past few weeks.
- I have to be reassured by my wife that I am not wasting away, a bit like ‘does my bum look big in this?’
- Patients with wasting diseases were revitalised by drugs which stimulated the synthesis of protein, the key ingredient of muscle, bone and skin.
- She was wasting away, but still had a sort of decaying beauty.
- He saw people being murdered and people wasting away.
- Spinal muscular atrophy makes muscles waste away and is incurable.
- For people wasting away from the side effects of chemotherapy, this could be a small bit of very good news, indeed.
- I could not sit up because my muscles had wasted away.
- We will have to feed you up Juliet you are quite wasting away
- When I was younger, my grandfather slowly wasted away, through nothing more than old age, but long before he died, he had lost all his mental faculties, and also any control over his body.
- While her brain remained sharp, her body wasted away.
- He very convincingly portrayed a man struggling against a disease that meant he was wasting away in order to get something of extreme importance done.
- He's wasting away, and there's nothing the healers can do.
Synonyms grow weak, wither, atrophy, become emaciated, shrivel up, shrink, decay - 2.1archaic with object Make progressively weaker and more emaciated.
these symptoms wasted the patients very much
3literary with object Devastate or ruin (a place) he seized their cattle and wasted their country Example sentencesExamples - They proceed to unleash the monsters across the globe, who do what comes naturally, and start wasting cities.
Synonyms destroy, devastate, lay waste, leave in ruins, wreak havoc on, ravage, leave desolate - 3.1North American informal Kill or severely injure (someone)
I saw them waste the guy I worked for Example sentencesExamples - If you're an extreme utilitarian, you might just accept the calculation at face value and waste the little guy.
- Each of you wasted a person who was infinitely more talented than you, and for what?
- I'd like to fight somebody with a black belt and waste them.
- But nobody ever pulls out a grenade launcher and wastes the guy with the battle ax.
- I didn't want him dead, he was too good at what he did for me to waste him like that.
- Sure enough, three of them leap at him, sensing the boy as the most powerful, planning to waste him.
- But now the military's fresh faces can get a bit of the comforts of home - by wasting their pals in an online game.
Synonyms murder, kill, do away with, assassinate, liquidate, do to death, eliminate, terminate, dispatch, finish off, put to death, execute
4literary no object (of time) pass away; be spent.
adjectivewāstweɪst 1(of a material, substance, or byproduct) eliminated or discarded as no longer useful or required after the completion of a process. ensure that waste materials are disposed of responsibly plants produce oxygen as a waste product Example sentencesExamples - The conference, to be held in Tidworth in November, will show how thinking about rubbish as a raw material rather than a waste product can benefit businesses.
- Aquatic plant material and waste grain left in plowed fields make up the majority of the Canada Goose's diet.
- One such body function is the occasional need to eliminate accumulated waste gases from the digestive tract.
- Each stage in the production process uses the waste material of the previous one as its feedstock.
- This contract also excludes liability in respect of disposal or dumping of any waste materials or substances.
- Local miners have been digging and collecting here for several years, moving many tons of overburden soil and waste rock in the process.
- He is also using the same process to turn waste wood from demolished buildings into biofibres that can then be used to make high-performance materials.
- He introduced us to a product that recycles waste plastic into fuel that was invented in Japan.
- Then they will ship the bulk samples to Iqaluit for crushing and sorting, to separate the sapphire material from waste rock.
- The incineration process produces a residual waste ash, which has to be transported and disposed of by landfilling.
- Paul sends me this story about a process to convert any waste matter into oil, gas and water.
- All our diseases are explained on the basis of deposition and fermentation of waste substances.
- The lungs also contribute to this process by eliminating carbon dioxide which is the waste byproduct of glucose and lactic acid metabolism.
- They can be made with simple materials such as waste paper.
- The reef mines sank far underground, and used expensive machinery and complex metallurgical processes to separate the gold from the waste rock.
- They were taught how to make useful products out of waste paper, at a training programme held recently.
- It is proposed that the waste timber product would be obtained from local forestry residues including thinnings.
- Constructed wetlands have advantages over other means of treating waste water because they require little energy, chemical input or maintenance.
- The reporter asked to see how he processed his own waste water and he agreed.
- Roof felts are essentially scrap paper bonded together with bitumen, a waste oil product that is put on the felt to saturate it.
Synonyms unwanted, excess, superfluous, left over, scrap, extra, unused, useless, worthless 2(of an area of land, typically in a city or town) not used, cultivated, or built on. Example sentencesExamples - She knew he smoked in the waste area where the youths hung out and when he came home his clothes reeked of the weed.
- The idea is to focus attention on problem areas which might otherwise be disregarded - such as waste ground - and to set a bench-mark for authorities to improve on.
- I am referring to Manchester Road Park which is an absolute disgrace and resembles a waste ground rather than a recreation area.
- Adding a 15m telephone mast and all its associated equipment would further make this waste area even more of an eyesore.
- Thanks to the effort of local people, that derelict piece of waste ground has now been transformed into a thriving urban nature park.
- Both crops also prevent erosion and provide revenue to offset the costs of managing waste sites.
- A major new leisure complex could be on the way for Burnley if plans to develop waste ground get the go-ahead.
- However to the West of the estate lies an expanse of waste ground and swampland which very nearly cost the life of a young boy from the estate.
- The facilities will be installed on an area of waste ground between the primary school and Westfield Road, and it is hoped that it will be open in time for the summer holidays.
- It grows in pastures, cultivated fields, and waste places.
- Eighteen months ago, two factories on North Road were closed down and demolished, leaving a waste area which has become a dump.
- Empty lager cans, plastic cider bottles and broken glass have turned the popular dog-walking area into waste ground.
- He is surrounded by the detritus of his addiction in a waste area in the middle of a rubbish dump.
- Plans to transform waste ground in Westhoughton into a residential area have been given a cautious welcome.
Synonyms uncultivated, barren, desert, unproductive, infertile, unfruitful, arid, bare
nounwāstweɪst 1An act or instance of using or expending something carelessly, extravagantly, or to no purpose. it's a waste of time trying to argue with him they had learned to avoid waste Example sentencesExamples - The waste of energy can hit the environment hard.
- Others have called the project a waste of taxpayers' money.
- In fact he reckons it's a giant waste of taxpayer's money.
- Is funding a project like this a good idea or a waste of money?
- You might think the opposition would savage such a profligate waste of taxpayers' money.
- These little actions are a waste of time, money and efforts.
- And I don't know if I'm more afraid that it will be the hugest, grossest waste of my time ever, or that I will actually enjoy it.
- We went for a weekend, which on the face of it sounds like an extravagant waste of time, but was actually painlessly good fun.
- When they barely had power for lighting it seemed an extravagant waste.
- So, in fact, that process has been a complete waste of time.
- Elections even at a state level cost money and both parties wish to avoid an unnecessary waste of money by contesting in an election that they will lose.
- It's a waste of time, a waste of your money, a waste of your life.
- Most replies wanted the cheapest option and thought the council a waste of money.
- It was an inappropriate appointment, in that it was clearly a dismal waste of his extravagant talents.
- But parents see this as a waste of taxpayers' money.
- The waste of talent in our country and in our world today is an affront.
- Not surprisingly, the opinion of the people sitting around me was that the blimp was an absurd waste of taxpayer money.
- It might be a waste of water, but in an extreme case it is a better alternative than a frozen, busted pipe on a freezing winter night.
- I have a whole rant about my sister's presence and the waste of money it was to bring her here to do nothing but sit around and watch television, but that's been said and done already.
- What exactly he intended with this disgusting waste of celluloid is a complete mystery.
Synonyms squandering, dissipation, frittering away, misspending, misuse, misapplication, misemployment, abuse - 1.1archaic The gradual loss or diminution of something.
he was pale and weak from waste of blood Synonyms deprivation, disappearance, losing, privation, forfeiture, squandering, dissipation
2Material that is not wanted; the unusable remains or byproducts of something. hazardous industrial wastes Example sentencesExamples - Hazardous wastes should not be put out with normal household waste for landfill.
- Failing to cover body wastes in open latrines promoted the spread of disease by flies.
- Again I noticed another reduction in the amount of waste in my bin.
- By 2010, Massachusetts wants to reduce municipal solid waste by 70 percent statewide.
- Concern arises because landfill sites are the primary means of disposing millions of tonnes of hazardous industrial waste.
- Thousands drowned in the murky brew that was soon contaminated by sewage and industrial waste.
- York council chiefs announced plans to dump regular weekly rubbish collections in an attempt to recycle more garden waste.
- The two warehouses will be used to store low-level radioactive waste generated by the two plants.
- Americans are right to refuse truckloads of garbage that contain biomedical waste and radioactive material.
- I already compost my garden and kitchen waste in my two compost bins.
- Companies didn't stop dumping toxic wastes into rivers because the government asked them nicely.
- Composting turns household wastes into valuable fertilizer and soil organic matter.
- The committee asks those responsible to refrain from dumping household waste in this bin.
- A nearly inert material, concrete is suitable as a medium for recycling waste or industrial by-products.
- If done properly, the garden waste you use now will be completely broken down into lovely rich soil at winter's end.
- We see everyday how people still dump their waste carelessly.
- We can't carry on as we are, throwing away huge quantities of recyclable waste every year.
- The Department of Defense produces more hazardous waste per year than the five largest U.S. chemical companies combined.
- Many are turned into cesspools and dumping sites for solid waste, including hazardous materials.
- The council has tried to address the problem of illegally dumped rubbish by organising free collections of household waste including unwanted fridges.
Synonyms rubbish, refuse, litter, debris, dross, junk, detritus, scrap 3usually wastesA large area of barren, typically uninhabited land. the icy wastes of the Antarctic Example sentencesExamples - As well as mass genocide, Stalin tore thousands of families apart by exiling men to the icy wastes of Siberia.
- That will see him traversing the Americas, covering the 25,000 kilometres from Ushuia, the world's most southern city, up to the icy wastes of Alaska.
- I do not know what happened to him after they cast him into the southern wastes by the sea.
- There were French partridges, a hare crossed the icy wastes leaving stretched-out tracks and we discussed the advantage of stiffer soled boots for snow and the necessity of shades.
- From the icy wastes to the arid deserts and lush forests, it has carved out habitats and multiplied.
- What tugs at Carlyon's heartstrings is the fate of the soldiers, the boys from the outback and the small towns who dreamed of glory but found only death and disaster in the barren wastes of Gallipoli.
- I crave snow-topped mountains, dreary wastes, and the cruel Northern sea with its hard horizons at the edge of the world where infinite space begins.
- A rare silver arctic fox, a tough breed used to treading the icy wastes of Alaska and Canada, has been given a new home and a warm welcome at Selby Animal Sanctuary.
- Numerous artists are leaving the city garret behind and getting out into the great outdoors as the icy white wastes lure their imagination.
- He comes up with such treasures as, ‘Claustrophobia and agoraphobia in the same place - like two people in a bed,’ in reference to his failed relationship and the icy wastes around him.
- Armoured warfare on the plains of west and central Europe is very different from internal security operations in an urban area or patrolling across desert wastes in the sub-Sahara.
- European navigators and adventurers were tantalized for centuries by reports of a sea passage linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in icy wastes north of Canada.
- There are a variety of locations in the game - from towns to jungles to snowy wastes to an aircraft carrier - and they all look absolutely authentic.
- They are famed for their ability to operate at sea, in the jungle or in the Arctic wastes and freezing cold of Norway.
- Her mouth and throat were as dry as the desert wastes.
- His hair was long, lank and bright red, and his skin as pale as the icy wastes beyond.
- Outside the barren wastes of the Western Sahara, few people will be holding their breath to see what the UN security council does next week about the world's most obscure and long-running conflict.
- The images are crystal clear because it is now spring in the frozen wastes of the Martian poles.
- It might add interest to what has become a long chase across desert wastes.
- Remote and romantic they might seem from afar, but the desert wastes of the Western Sahara are echoing to the sounds of preparation for war.
Synonyms desert, wasteland, wilderness, barrenness, emptiness, vastness, wilds 4Law
Damage to an estate caused by an act or by neglect, especially by a life-tenant. Example sentencesExamples - If a mortgagee enters into possession he is liable to account for rent on the basis of wilful default; he must keep mortgage premises in repair; he is liable for waste.
Phrases Be unused or expended to no purpose. Example sentencesExamples - Another reason I have started the practice at least on a small scale is that I hate to see so much potential going to waste.
- Planning your meals ahead may save you money and lots of food and drink going to waste in the bin or down the drain
- With a daily outflow of 450 million litres, that's a lot of potentially very useful water going to waste.
- Did the parents who saw their kids at the protest have any concerns about their tuition dollars going to waste?
- The coffee harvest has been going to waste, everyday life has been disrupted.
- It was just a hobby, I didn't like to see anything going to waste.
- Often patients fail to turn up without any warning and it means their slot, which could have been taken by someone else, goes to waste.
- Most students do not know about this book dumping, and great books are going to waste.
- Water is going to waste while others are without this vital commodity.
- That is why even today all the rice that is grown in Western Province goes to waste because there is no market for it.
lay waste to (or lay something (to) waste) Example sentencesExamples - The Northumbrians rebelled and in devastating reprisals their lands were laid to waste for several generations.
- The city of Jerusalem, laid waste and destroyed by the Babylonians as an act of divine judgment, is described as having lost all its beauty.
- In fact, he even proposed that Athenians lay waste to their own lands to deny the Spartan army resources and the opportunity to do so itself; but he knew this was an unrealistic request of the people.
- The destructive winds that lay waste the coast of Florida and various Caribbean islands pass through between September and November, a time when people batten down the hatches and hope for the best.
- Factories sprang up like fungi while the countryside was laid waste.
- ‘I speak for those whose land is being laid waste, whose homes are being destroyed, whose culture is being subverted,’ he said.
- Not for Napoleon the debate over animal waste in the food chain - he was too busy laying waste large tracts of Europe.
- And the other thing about Hitler, of course, was his complacent conviction of the superiority of the German people - and of his right to wage unprovoked war and lay waste to other nations in their name.
- Their cities would be laid waste, their lands desolate.
- This was then the period of the laying waste of the agricultural lands in the North.
Synonyms devastate, wipe out, destroy, demolish, annihilate, raze, ruin, leave in ruins, wreck, level, flatten, gut, consume, ravage, pillage, sack, wreak havoc on
proverb If you use a commodity or resource carefully and without extravagance you will never be in need. Example sentencesExamples - I don't know how I'm going to work the Christmas theme into this shot of me as a post-autopsy coroner standing smugly over a body and holding a jar of entrails… but look, waste not, want not.
- On the principle of waste not, want not, I've pasted some material below that was originally intended for New York Press.
- It's time to kiss those landfill-clogging sandwich baggies goodbye and move into the waste not, want not 21st century.
- Waste not, want not applies to our spending habits too.
- Whatever the God implied by evolutionary theory and the data of natural history may be like, He is not the Protestant God of waste not, want not.
- How do you feel the statement waste not want not applies in you life?
- In sports, the city's credo was waste not, want not.
Origin Middle English: from Old Northern French wast(e) (noun), waster (verb), based on Latin vastus ‘unoccupied, uncultivated’. |