waste
verb/weɪst/
/weɪst/
Verb Forms
Idioms Phrasal Verbs| present simple I / you / we / they waste | /weɪst/ /weɪst/ |
| he / she / it wastes | /weɪsts/ /weɪsts/ |
| past simple wasted | /ˈweɪstɪd/ /ˈweɪstɪd/ |
| past participle wasted | /ˈweɪstɪd/ /ˈweɪstɪd/ |
| -ing form wasting | /ˈweɪstɪŋ/ /ˈweɪstɪŋ/ |
- to use more of something than is necessary or useful
- waste something Stop wasting time and just get on with it!
- to waste food/energy/resources
- waste something on something Why waste money on clothes you don't need?
- We got straight down to business without wasting time on small talk.
- waste something (in) doing something She wasted no time in rejecting the offer (= she rejected it immediately).
- You're wasting your time trying to explain it to him (= because he will not understand).
Homophones waist | wastewaist waste/weɪst//weɪst/- waist noun
- She wore a wide sash around her waist.
- waste verb
- You can't afford to waste time by waiting.
- waste noun
- Doing such a mundane job is a waste of your talent.
- waste adjective
- Waste products from the process can be made into fertilizer.
Extra Examples- Don't waste your money on a hotel room.
- He didn't want to waste valuable time in idle gossip.
- Hurry up—there's no time to waste!
- I'm not going to waste any more time on the problem.
- Their father hated to waste energy.
- The health authority wasted millions of pounds on a computer system that never worked.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- (not) completely
- (not) entirely
- (not) totally
- …
- can’t afford to
- not want to
- hate to
- …
- on
- no time to waste
- [usually passive] to not make good or full use of somebody/something
- waste somebody/something It was a wasted opportunity.
- His talents are wasted in that job.
- He felt that he had wasted his life.
- waste somebody/something as something You're wasted as a sales manager—you should have been an actor.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- (not) completely
- (not) entirely
- (not) totally
- …
- can’t afford to
- not want to
- hate to
- …
- on
- no time to waste
- waste something (on somebody/something) to give, say, use, etc. something good where it is not valued or used in the way that it should be
- Don't waste your sympathy on him—he got what he deserved.
- Expensive wine is wasted on me (= because I cannot appreciate it properly).
- Her comments were not wasted on Chris (= he understood what she meant).
- In the end her efforts were not entirely wasted.
- waste somebody (informal, especially North American English) to get rid of somebody, usually by killing them
- waste somebody (North American English, informal) to defeat somebody very badly in a game or competition
not use well
kill somebody
defeat somebody
Word OriginMiddle English: from Old Northern French wast(e) (noun), waster (verb), based on Latin vastus ‘unoccupied, uncultivated’.
Idioms
See waste in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee waste in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishwaste your breath
- to say something that nobody takes any notice of
- You're just wasting your breath. She never listens.
waste not, want not
- (saying) if you never waste anything, especially food or money, you will always have it when you need it
Check pronunciation:
waste