(wastes, wasting, wasted)
Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English.
1.
If you waste something such as time, money, or energy, you use too much of it doing something that is not important or necessary, or is unlikely to succeed.
There could be many reasons and he was not going to waste time speculating on them...
I resolved not to waste money on a hotel...
The system wastes a large amount of water.
VERB: V n -ing, V n on n, V n
•
Waste is also a noun.
It is a waste of time going to the doctor with most mild complaints...
I think that is a total waste of money.
N-SING: a N of n
2.
Waste is the use of money or other resources on things that do not need it.
The packets are measured to reduce waste...
I hate waste.
N-UNCOUNT
3.
Waste is material which has been used and is no longer wanted, for example because the valuable or useful part of it has been taken out.
Congress passed a law that regulates the disposal of waste...
Up to 10 million tonnes of toxic wastes are produced every year in the UK.
...the process of eliminating body waste.
N-UNCOUNT: also N in pl
4.
If you waste an opportunity for something, you do not take advantage of it when it is available.
Let's not waste an opportunity to see the children...
It was a wasted opportunity.
VERB: V n, V-ed
5.
Waste land is land, especially in or near a city, which is not used or looked after by anyone, and so is covered by wild plants and rubbish.
Yarrow can be found growing wild in fields and on waste ground.
ADJ: usu ADJ n
6.
Wastes are a large area of land, for example a desert, in which there are very few people, plants, or animals.
...the barren wastes of the Sahara.
N-PLURAL: adj N, N of n
7.
8.
If something goes to waste, it remains unused or has to be thrown away.
Mexican cookery is economical, she says. Nothing goes to waste.
PHRASE: V inflects
9.
to
waste no time: see
time