Synonyms for Waste

Top synonyms for “waste”: barren, blow, consume, desolate, devastate, dissipation, do in, emaciate, and 24 more below.

Definitions

1. (noun)useless or profitless activity; using or expending or consuming thoughtlessly or carelessly
   “if the effort brings no compensating gain it is a waste”
2. (noun)(law) reduction in the value of an estate caused by act or neglect
3. (noun)the trait of wasting resources
   “a life characterized by thriftlessness and waste”
4. (noun)an uninhabited wilderness that is worthless for cultivation
   “the barrens of central Africa”
5. (noun)any materials unused and rejected as worthless or unwanted
   “they collect the waste once a week”
6. (verb)become physically weaker
   “Political prisoners are wasting away in many prisons all over the world”
7. (verb)cause extensive destruction or ruin utterly
   “The enemy lay waste to the countryside after the invasion”
8. (verb)cause to grow thin or weak
   “The treatment emaciated him”
9. (verb)lose vigor, health, or flesh, as through grief
   “After her husband died, she just pined away”
10. (verb)spend extravagantly
    “waste not, want not”
11. (verb)use inefficiently or inappropriately
    “waste heat”
12. (verb)get rid of (someone who may be a threat) by killing
    “The mafia liquidated the informer”

Definitions sourced from Princeton WordNet (BSD license).