Wastier

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Characterized by excessive waste; often describing something that squanders resources or potential carelessly
2. Referring to an approach or method that disregards efficiency and results in greater wastefulness than necessary
3. Describing a situation or action that results in more loss or depletion than what is deemed acceptable or prudent

Etymology: "Wastier" is the comparative of "wasty," so it simply means "more wasty." The adjective "wasty" has two lines of descent that happen to meet in English. One is an Old English word, "wēstiġ," meaning desolate or deserted, built from "waste" plus the suffix "-y." Over the Middle English period it came to describe land that was barren or uninhabited, and the sense of emptiness stayed with it. Its relatives survive in Scots and in Dutch and Low German, where cognates still mean desolate, inhospitable or wild. The second line is a later Middle English sense, "extravagantly or wastefully expensive," which also comes from "waste" plus "-y." Here the emphasis moves from empty land to money or goods thrown away. The modern meaning of "wastier," a situation producing more loss or depletion than is prudent, follows this second line, so the word has drifted from describing a desolate place to describing an excess of squandering.

Synonyms: more wasteful, leaner, thinner, skinnier, emaciated

Antonyms: less wasteful, fatter, plumper, more productive, efficient