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| waste [ wayst ] |
noun (plural wastes) |
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| Definition: |
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1. act of wasting: a failure to use something wisely, properly, fully, or to good effect
  a complete waste of money
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2. unwanted material: unwanted or unusable items, remains, or byproducts, or household garbage
chemical waste
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3. excrement: the undigested remainder of food expelled from the body as excrement
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4. used or contaminated water: used or contaminated water from domestic, industrial, or mining applications
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5. rock associated with mineral: enclosing rock mined with a mineral, or ore with insufficient mineral content to justify further processing
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6. wild area: an uncultivated, desolate, or wild area
(
often used in the plural
)
the frozen wastes of Antarctica
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7. destroyed area: a place or region that has been destroyed or ruined
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verb (past and past participle wast·ed, present participle wast·ing, 3rd person present singular wastes) |
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| Definition: |
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1. transitive verb use something carelessly: to use something or use something up carelessly, extravagantly, or ineffectively
She wasted the whole morning daydreaming.
Don't waste your arguments on her; she's already made up her mind!
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2. transitive verb fail to use something: to fail to make use of something such as an opportunity
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3. transitive verb not exploit potential of somebody: to fail to make full use of the abilities or talents possessed by somebody
(
usually passive
)
You're wasted as a nurse, you should have been a doctor.
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4. transitive and intransitive verb get weaker or more ill: to become gradually weaker or thinner, e.g. as a result of disease, or make somebody become gradually weaker or thinner
children wasting away from malnutrition
a body wasted by illness
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5. transitive verb destroy something: to ravage or devastate something
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6. transitive verb kill somebody: to kill or murder somebody
(
slang
)
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adjective |
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| Definition: |
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1. not needed: useless or not needed
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2. unproductive: unproductive, uninhabited, or uncultivated
waste ground
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3. excreted: expelled from the body as indigestible
waste matter
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4. for waste: used to carry off or store waste
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| [12th century. Via Old N French< Latin vastus "empty"] |
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| wast·a·ble adjective |
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be wasted on somebody to be directed at somebody who is unable or unwilling to understand or heed it
I'm afraid all her good advice was wasted on me.
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go to waste to be unused or underutilized and therefore discarded or lost
This pie will just go to waste if we don't eat it.
Don't let your talent go to waste.
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lay something (to) waste to destroy or devastate something
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