wastes 1 of 2

noun

plural of waste
1
as in luxuries
an instance of spending money or resources without care or restraint it seems like a waste to spend my entire paycheck on a bigger TV

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2
as in deserts
land that is uninhabited or not fit for crops an area that was a barren waste after the strip-mining had ended

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3
as in expanses
a wide space or area a legendary mariner doomed to sail the watery wastes of the world until Judgment Day

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4
as in erosions
a gradual weakening, loss, or destruction the slow waste of the once broad beach by the relentless tide

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wastes

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of waste
1
as in spends
to use up carelessly he wasted his lottery winnings on booze-soaked nights with gold diggers

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2
as in destroys
to bring to a complete end the physical soundness, existence, or usefulness of one country attempting to waste another

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3
as in weakens
to diminish the physical strength of endless months of inactivity wasted him

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of wastes
Noun
Netflix‘s latest action extravaganza wastes zero time in getting to the good stuff, so this review won’t either. — Pete Hammond, Deadline, 23 Apr. 2026 Being under 5-foot-4 can make clothes shopping tough—pants drag, dresses hang long, and constant tailoring wastes time and money. — Melony Forcier, InStyle, 24 June 2026 This damage impairs kidney function, preventing the proper production of urine and the elimination of metabolic wastes. — Encyclopedia Britannica, 15 May 2026 Depending on soil temperature and moisture, the number of microorganisms in the soil, and the carbon content of the wastes, decomposition will occur in one month to one year to feed plant root systems. — Mary Marlowe Leverette, Southern Living, 24 May 2026 Buying less food wastes less of it, and the roughly 700 million tons of CO₂ equivalent lost annually to food-system waste scales down with the volume. — Tenzin Seldon, Fortune, 21 June 2026 Every inaccurate retrieval wastes valuable inference cycles. — Chhandomay Mandal, Forbes.com, 18 June 2026 The liver has many functions including producing bile and various proteins, storage of energy, metabolizing nutrients, and, perhaps most significantly, filtering toxins and wastes from the body. — Dr. John De Jong, Boston Herald, 7 June 2026 Nolan and the cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema, wielding heavy IMAX cameras, shot their picture across the Mediterranean and beyond, in caves, castles, beaches, black-sand wastes, and open water. — David Denby, New Yorker, 21 June 2026
Verb
Petras wastes no time arguing this case for herself. — Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 3 June 2026 Beth wastes no time shutting down the conversation. — Samantha Stutsman, PEOPLE, 13 June 2026 But police say the game wastes resources and could have severe unintended consequences. — Peter D'abrosca, FOXNews.com, 22 May 2026 Noting that many vanities have a false drawer front at the top, which wastes space, Ecklund recommends rethinking it. — Marisa Suzanne Martin, The Spruce, 27 May 2026 How the ‘system’ plays In 1958, working-class voters and Democrats were within 5 points of each other on whether government wastes a lot of tax money. — Nicholas Jacobs, The Conversation, 2 June 2026 Justin Stasiw’s soundscape wastes no time throwing the audience into Mumbai, where vehicles, whistles and rickshaws harshly yet thrillingly enter the ears. — David John Chávez, Mercury News, 3 June 2026 This creates friction, wastes time, and increases exposure to identity fraud, despite the existing technology for digital credentials. — Raj Ananthanpillai, Forbes.com, 19 June 2026 Instead, Greenbaum, who did far better and smarter work with many of the same people in Too Funny to Fail and Will & Harper, wastes time on a voiceover device that’s too cutesy to be worth the effort and a three-act structure that’s more for the benefit of his editors than the audience. — Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 10 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for wastes
  1. luxuries
  2. deserts
  3. expanses
  4. erosions
  5. spends
  6. destroys
  7. weakens
  8. extravagances
Noun
  • Salted and preserved fish and meats, including bacon, sausage, liver pudding and offal, were staples of working-class people's diets, while the upper classes indulged in such luxuries as white flour and sugar.
    — Teresa Mull, FOXNews.com, 4 July 2026
  • Due to postwar prosperity and changes in pool-construction technology, private pools were no longer considered luxuries but within reach of the burgeoning middle-class.
    — Martha Ross, Mercury News, 3 July 2026
Definition of luxuries
Noun
  • Beginning in the late 1960s, artists abandoned galleries in favour of deserts, salt flats, mesas, and remote terrain, using these surroundings as both setting and material.
    — Lara Johnson-Wheeler, Vogue, 3 July 2026
  • In the low-elevation deserts of Eastern California, the sun sits high in the sky during late June and pours energy into the ground for much of the day.
    — Brandi D. Addison, USA Today, 1 July 2026
Definition of deserts
Noun
  • Surrounded by wide open expanses of the Santa Monica Mountains, this modern abode has a direct connection with its surroundings via the sliding doors and casement windows that swing open to beckon in fresh air and sunlight.
    — Kristin Braswell, Architectural Digest, 30 June 2026
  • For example, the warmer temperatures in the El Niño region are happening in the context of warmer than normal temperatures across vast expanses in the Pacific.
    — Dinah Voyles Pulver, USA Today, 25 June 2026
Definition of expanses
Noun
  • He’s known for building intentional cracks and erosions into his works, which often reveal an interior geology of materials like crystals or gears, and more recently, labyrinth staircases populated with small figures, not unlike a surreal antique dollhouse.
    — Kristen Tauer, Footwear News, 11 Mar. 2026
  • These erosions leak into other areas of law.
    — Emily Galvin Almanza, Literary Hub, 18 Feb. 2026
Definition of erosions
Verb
  • The amount a farmer spends on fertilizer is a small fraction of the total cost to grow food and get it to grocery store shelves.
    — Joe Hernandez, NPR, 3 July 2026
  • Pz’ spends much of his proper debut, No Turning Back, equally baffled by his good fortune and ready to fasten it to his side with a Gucci strap before anyone else can take it.
    — Dylan Green, Pitchfork, 3 July 2026
Definition of spends
Verb
  • What starts as a series that aims to subvert the heist genre at every turn – amped with thrilling life-or-death stakes, family dynamics, and explosive action – gives birth to an exploration of what drives us, sustains us, and ultimately destroys us.
    — Rosy Cordero, Deadline, 30 June 2026
  • Arrrives, destroys Femi and hands Main Event Jey the crown.
    — Darren Cooper, Forbes.com, 26 June 2026
Definition of destroys
Verb
  • When the dollar weakens, commodity prices expressed in dollars tend to rise to maintain purchasing power parity for buyers operating in other currencies.
    — Jason Kirsch, Forbes.com, 2 July 2026
  • But the corresponding upheaval is still catastrophic for any surrounding planets, which either get swallowed up by the expanding star, or drift into wider orbits as the star’s gravity weakens—some are flung out from the system entirely.
    — Sam Macdonald, Scientific American, 1 July 2026
Definition of weakens
Noun
  • And as in those days, extravagances like butler service and delicacies like caviar, lobster, and seafood towers are at the ready.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 23 Apr. 2026
  • Still, Stroheim’s spending was out of control—literally so, insofar as attempting to rein him in seemed to provoke new extravagances.
    — Richard Brody, New Yorker, 17 Jan. 2026
Definition of extravagances

Browse Nearby Words

wasters
wastes
wastes (away)
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Cite this Entry

“Wastes.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/wastes. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.

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Nglish: Translation of wastes for Spanish Speakers

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