Waste

Part of speech: verb, noun

Pronunciation: /weɪst/

Definitions

1. The improper or excessive use of resources leading to loss
2. Material or substances discarded because they are no longer useful ; to consume or use something in a way that is careless or inefficient ; to lose or spend something valuable recklessly or without benefit
3. Any unwanted or unusable leftover material produced during an activity ; to employ or handle something without careful management ; to fritter away resources or opportunities through neglect or poor decision-making

Etymology: The most striking thing about "waste" is that its noun sense came first and its verb sense grew out of it. The noun traces back to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "empty," which passed into Germanic as a word for empty, barren land. Old English had "wēste" meaning barren or desolate, and the same root gave German "wüst," still meaning desolate or uninhabited. Frankish speakers in the Low Countries carried a version of it into Old French, and it entered Middle English through Anglo-Norman as "wast," meaning a desolate wilderness. The verb developed from the same idea. Anglo-Norman "waster" meant to devastate or lay something waste, turning land into an empty ruin. English speakers then used the verb for ruining or destroying things generally, and only later for squandering them. That is how "waste" came to mean spending something carelessly: the notion of leaving a place empty and ruined gradually shifted to using up goods or time to no good purpose.

Synonyms: squander, dissipate, consume, deplete, expend

Antonyms: save, conserve, utilize, preserve, invest