Dictionary entry details
• WASTE (noun)
Meaning:
Any materials unused and rejected as worthless or unwanted
Classified under:
Nouns denoting substances
Synonyms:
waste product; waste matter; waste material; waste
Context examples:
they collect the waste once a week / much of the waste material is carried off in the sewers
Hypernyms ("waste" is a kind of...):
material; stuff (the tangible substance that goes into the makeup of a physical object)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "waste"):
toxic industrial waste; toxic waste (poisonous waste materials; can cause injury (especially by chemical means))
slop ((usually plural) waste water from a kitchen or bathroom or chamber pot that has to be emptied by hand)
rubbish; scrap; trash (worthless material that is to be disposed of)
pollutant (waste matter that contaminates the water or air or soil)
food waste; garbage; refuse; scraps (food that is discarded (as from a kitchen))
effluent; sewer water; wastewater (water mixed with waste matter)
sewage; sewerage (waste matter carried away in sewers or drains)
crud; filth; skank (any substance considered disgustingly foul or unpleasant)
body waste; excrement; excreta; excretion; excretory product (waste matter (as urine or sweat but especially feces) discharged from the body)
exhaust; exhaust fumes; fumes (gases ejected from an engine as waste products)
dross; impurity (worthless or dangerous material that should be removed)
Meaning:
Useless or profitless activity; using or expending or consuming thoughtlessly or carelessly
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Synonyms:
waste; wastefulness; dissipation
Context examples:
if the effort brings no compensating gain it is a waste / mindless dissipation of natural resources
Hypernyms ("waste" is a kind of...):
activity (any specific behavior)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "waste"):
boondoggle (work of little or no value done merely to look busy)
squandering (spending resources lavishly and wastefully)
extravagance; high life; highlife; lavishness; prodigality (excessive spending)
waste of time (the devotion of time to a useless activity)
waste of money (money spent for inadequate return)
waste of material (a useless consumption of material)
waste of effort; waste of energy (a useless effort)
Meaning:
The trait of wasting resources
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Synonyms:
thriftlessness; wastefulness; waste
Context examples:
a life characterized by thriftlessness and waste / the wastefulness of missed opportunities
Hypernyms ("waste" is a kind of...):
improvidence; shortsightedness (a lack of prudence and care by someone in the management of resources)
Meaning:
An uninhabited wilderness that is worthless for cultivation
Classified under:
Nouns denoting spatial position
Synonyms:
barren; wasteland; waste
Context examples:
the barrens of central Africa / the trackless wastes of the desert
Hypernyms ("waste" is a kind of...):
wild; wilderness (a wild and uninhabited area left in its natural condition)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "waste"):
heath; heathland (a tract of level wasteland; uncultivated land with sandy soil and scrubby vegetation)
Meaning:
(law) reduction in the value of an estate caused by act or neglect
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Synonyms:
permissive waste; waste
Hypernyms ("waste" is a kind of...):
act; human action; human activity (something that people do or cause to happen)
Domain category:
jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)
• WASTE (adjective)
Meaning:
Located in a dismal or remote area; desolate
Synonyms:
desert; godforsaken; waste; wild
Context examples:
a desert island / a godforsaken wilderness crossroads / a wild stretch of land / waste places
Similar:
inhospitable (unfavorable to life or growth)
• WASTE (verb)
Meaning:
Spend thoughtlessly; throw away
Classified under:
Verbs of buying, selling, owning
Synonyms:
waste; squander; blow
Context examples:
He wasted his inheritance on his insincere friends / You squandered the opportunity to get and advanced degree
Hypernyms (to "waste" is one way to...):
expend; use (use up, consume fully)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "waste"):
burn (spend (significant amounts of money))
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s something
Antonym:
conserve (use cautiously and frugally)
Meaning:
Use inefficiently or inappropriately
Classified under:
Verbs of eating and drinking
Context examples:
waste heat / waste a joke on an unappreciative audience
Hypernyms (to "waste" is one way to...):
apply; employ; use; utilise; utilize (put into service; make work or employ (something) for a particular purpose or for its inherent or natural purpose)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Meaning:
Get rid of
Classified under:
Verbs of buying, selling, owning
Context example:
We waste the dirty water by channeling it into the sewer
Hypernyms (to "waste" is one way to...):
cast aside; cast away; cast out; chuck out; discard; dispose; fling; put away; throw away; throw out; toss; toss away; toss out (throw or cast away)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s something
Meaning:
Run off as waste
Classified under:
Verbs of walking, flying, swimming
Synonyms:
waste; run off
Context example:
The water wastes back into the ocean
Hypernyms (to "waste" is one way to...):
course; feed; flow; run (move along, of liquids)
Sentence frames:
Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP
Meaning:
Get rid of (someone who may be a threat) by killing
Classified under:
Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging
Synonyms:
do in; knock off; liquidate; neutralise; neutralize; waste
Context examples:
The mafia liquidated the informer / the double agent was neutralized
Hypernyms (to "waste" is one way to...):
kill (cause to die; put to death, usually intentionally or knowingly)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s somebody
Sentence example:
They want to waste the prisoners
Meaning:
Spend extravagantly
Classified under:
Verbs of eating and drinking
Synonyms:
ware; squander; consume; waste
Context example:
waste not, want not
Hypernyms (to "waste" is one way to...):
drop; expend; spend (pay out)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "waste"):
dissipate; fool; fool away; fritter; fritter away; frivol away; shoot (spend frivolously and unwisely)
luxuriate; wanton (become extravagant; indulge (oneself) luxuriously)
lavish; shower (expend profusely; also used with abstract nouns)
overspend (spend at a high rate)
fling; splurge (indulge oneself)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something
Meaning:
Lose vigor, health, or flesh, as through grief
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Synonyms:
languish; pine away; waste
Context example:
After her husband died, she just pined away
Hypernyms (to "waste" is one way to...):
weaken (become weaker)
Sentence frames:
Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Meaning:
Cause to grow thin or weak
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Synonyms:
emaciate; macerate; waste
Context example:
The treatment emaciated him
Hypernyms (to "waste" is one way to...):
debilitate; drain; enfeeble (make weak)
Cause:
emaciate (grow weak and thin or waste away physically)
Sentence frame:
Something ----s somebody
Meaning:
Devastate or ravage
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Synonyms:
lay waste to; devastate; ravage; desolate; scourge; waste
Context example:
The enemy lay waste to the countryside after the invasion
Hypernyms (to "waste" is one way to...):
destroy; ruin (destroy completely; damage irreparably)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "waste"):
ruin (reduce to ruins)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Meaning:
Waste away
Classified under:
Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care
Synonyms:
rot; waste
Context example:
Political prisoners are wasting away in many prisons all over the world
Hypernyms (to "waste" is one way to...):
degenerate; deteriorate; devolve; drop (grow worse)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "waste"):
gangrene; mortify; necrose; sphacelate (undergo necrosis)
Sentence frame:
Something ----s
