| Main Entry: | waste |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | spending, use without thought |
Synonyms: |
decay, desolation, destruction, devastation, dilapidation, dissipation, disuse, exhaustion, expenditure, extravagance, fritter, havoc, improvidence, lavishness, loss, lost opportunity, misapplication, misuse, overdoing, prodigality, ravage, ruin, squander, squandering, unthriftiness, wastage, wastefulness |
| Notes: | wastage is loss through use such as wear, leakage, or decay; the gradual process of wasting; or an amount that is wasted -- while waste is loss through carelessness, inefficiency, or ignorance or another word for garbage or rubbish |
Antonyms: |
hoarding, saving |
| Main Entry: | waste |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | land that is uncultivated |
Synonyms: |
badlands, barren, bog, brush, brushland, bush, desert, dust bowl, fen, jungle, marsh, marshland, moor, quagmire, solitude, swamp, tundra, void, wasteland, wild, wilderness, wilds |
Antonyms: |
development |
| Main Entry: | waste |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | garbage, refuse |
Synonyms: |
debris, dreck, dregs, dross, excess, hogwash, junk, leavings, leftovers, litter, offal, offscourings, rubbish, rubble, ruins, rummage, scrap, slop, sweepings, swill, trash |
Antonyms: |
possessions |
| Main Entry: | waste |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | spend or use without thought; dwindle |
Synonyms: |
atrophy, be of no avail, blow, burn up, consume, corrode, crumble, debilitate, decay, decline, decrease, deplete, disable, disappear, dissipate, divert, drain, droop, eat away, ebb, emaciate, empty, enfeeble, exhaust, fade, fritter away, frivol away, gamble away, gnaw, go to waste, lavish, lose, misapply, misemploy, misuse, perish, pour down the drain, run dry, run through, sap, sink, splurge, squander, thin, throw away, trifle away, undermine, wane, wear, wear out, wilt, wither |
Antonyms: |
hoard, save |
| Main Entry: | waste |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | ruin, destroy |
Synonyms: |
depredate, desecrate, desolate, despoil, devastate, devour, lay waste, pillage, rape, ravage, raze, reduce, sack, spoil, spoliate, wreak havoc |
Antonyms: |
build, create, preserve |
| Concept: | Waste. |
| Category: | 2. Subservience to ends; actual subservience |
Synonyms: |
-nouns
consumption, expenditure, exhaustion; dispersion; ebb; leakage (exudation); loss; wear and tear; waste; prodigality; misuse; wasting; rubbish (useless)., mountain in labor.
-verbs
spend, expend, use, consume, swallow up, exhaust; impoverish; spill, drain, empty; disperse., cast away, fool away, muddle away, throw away, fling away, fritter away; burn the candle at both ends, waste; squander., "waste its sweetness on the desert air " [Gray]; cast one's bread upon the waters, cast pearls before swine; employ a steam engine to crack a nut, waste powder and shot, break a butterfly on a weel; labor in vain (useless); cut blocks with a razor, pour water into a sieve., leak (run out); run to waste; ebb; melt away, run dry, dry up.
-adjectives
wasted; at a low ebb., wasteful (prodigal); penny wise and pound foolish.
-phrases
magno conatu magnas nugas; le jeu ne vaut pas la chandelle; "idly busy rolls their world away" [Goldsmith].
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| Main Entry: | abuse |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | use wrongly |
Synonyms: |
dissipate, exhaust, misemploy, mishandle, misuse, overburden, overtax, overwork, prostitute, spoil, squander, taint, waste |
| Notes: | abuse carries with it some sense of harm; misuse refers to an incorrect use that may not lead to harm to misuse is to use something wrongly, to abuse is to misuse something so badly that you damage it |
Antonyms: |
benefit, care for, esteem, prize, respect, revere |
| Main Entry: | barren |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | unable to support growth |
Synonyms: |
arid, depleted, desert, desolate, dry, effete, empty, fallow, fruitless, impotent, impoverished, infecund, infertile, parched, sterile, unbearing, uncultivable, unfertile, unfruitful, unproductive, waste |
Antonyms: |
developing, fecund, fertile, filled, full, growing, productive, useful |
| Main Entry: | best |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | defeat; gain advantage |
Synonyms: |
KO, beat, beat up, better, blank*, blast*, bulldoze, clobber, conquer, cream*, deck, drub, exceed, excel, flax, floor*, get the better of, knock off, lambaste, let have it, lick*, master, outclass, outdo, outshine, outstrip, overcome, prevail, put away, shoot down, shut down, surpass, take care of, take down, tan*, thrash*, top, total, transcend, trash*, triumph, triumph over, trounce, wallop, waste*, wax, whip*, whomp, whop, wipe out, wipe the floor with, wipe, zap |
Antonyms: |
give up, lose, relent, surrender |
| Main Entry: | blow |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | use up money |
Synonyms: |
dissipate, lay out, pay out, spend, squander, waste |
Antonyms: |
save |