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say it: wayst
waste is a verb, noun and adjective meaning "spend thoughtlessly; throw away". It is pronounced /ˈweɪst/ — wayst. It carries 16 recorded senses.
use inefficiently or inappropriately
“waste heat”
“waste a joke on an unappreciative audience”
get rid of (someone who may be a threat) by killing
“The mafia liquidated the informer”
“the double agent was neutralized”
any materials unused and rejected as worthless or unwanted
“they collect the waste once a week”
“much of the waste material is carried off in the sewers”
useless or profitless activity; using or expending or consuming thoughtlessly or carelessly
“if the effort brings no compensating gain it is a waste”
“mindless dissipation of natural resources”
the trait of wasting resources
“a life characterized by thriftlessness and waste”
“the wastefulness of missed opportunities”
an uninhabited wilderness that is worthless for cultivation
“the barrens of central Africa”
“the trackless wastes of the desert”
(law) reduction in the value of an estate caused by act or neglect
law
located in a dismal or remote area; desolate
“a desert island”
“a godforsaken wilderness crossroads”
“a wild stretch of land”
“waste places”
Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.
Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for waste come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.