noun
1. useless or profitless activity
using or expending or consuming thoughtlessly or carelessly
e.g. if the effort brings no compensating gain it is a waste
mindless dissipation of natural resources
Synonym: wastefulnessdissipation
2. (law) reduction in the value of an estate caused by act or neglect
Synonym: permissive waste
3. the trait of wasting resources
e.g. a life characterized by thriftlessness and waste
the wastefulness of missed opportunities
Synonym: thriftlessnesswastefulness
4. an uninhabited wilderness that is worthless for cultivation
e.g. the barrens of central Africa
the trackless wastes of the desert
Synonym: barrenwasteland
5. any materials unused and rejected as worthless or unwanted
e.g. they collect the waste once a week
much of the waste material is carried off in the sewers
Synonym: waste materialwaste matterwaste product
verb
1. become physically weaker
e.g. Political prisoners are wasting away in many prisons all over the world
Synonym: rot
2. cause extensive destruction or ruin utterly
e.g. The enemy lay waste to the countryside after the invasion
Synonym: lay waste todevastatedesolateravagescourge
3. cause to grow thin or weak
e.g. The treatment emaciated him
Synonym: emaciatemacerate
4. lose vigor, health, or flesh, as through grief
e.g. After her husband died, she just pined away
Synonym: pine awaylanguish
5. spend extravagantly
e.g. waste not, want not
Synonym: consumesquanderware
6. use inefficiently or inappropriately
e.g. waste heat
waste a joke on an unappreciative audience
7. get rid of (someone who may be a threat) by killing
e.g. The mafia liquidated the informer
the double agent was neutralized
Synonym: neutralizeneutraliseliquidateknock offdo in
8. run off as waste
e.g. The water wastes back into the ocean
Synonym: run off
9. get rid of
e.g. We waste the dirty water by channeling it into the sewer
10. spend thoughtlessly
throw away
e.g. He wasted his inheritance on his insincere friends
You squandered the opportunity to get and advanced degree
Synonym: blowsquander
adj
1. located in a dismal or remote area
desolate
e.g. a desert island
a godforsaken wilderness crossroads
a wild stretch of land
waste places
Synonym: godforsakenwild