n.

1. any materials unused and rejected as worthless or unwanted;
   waste material, waste matter, waste product
   
   • they collect the waste once a week
   • much of the waste material is carried off in the sewers
2. useless or profitless activity; using or expending or consuming thoughtlessly or carelessly;
   wastefulness, dissipation
   
   • if the effort brings no compensating gain it is a waste
   • mindless dissipation of natural resources
3. the trait of wasting resources;
   thriftlessness, wastefulness
   
   • a life characterized by thriftlessness and waste
   • the wastefulness of missed opportunities
4. an uninhabited wilderness that is worthless for cultivation;
   barren, wasteland
   
   • the barrens of central Africa
   • the trackless wastes of the desert
5. (law) reduction in the value of an estate caused by act or neglect;
   permissive waste

v.

1. spend thoughtlessly; throw away;
   blow, squander
   
   • He wasted his inheritance on his insincere friends
   • You squandered the opportunity to get and advanced degree
2. use inefficiently or inappropriately
   
   • waste heat
   • waste a joke on an unappreciative audience
3. get rid of
   
   • We waste the dirty water by channeling it into the sewer
4. run off as waste;
   run off
   
   • The water wastes back into the ocean
5. get rid of (someone who may be a threat) by killing;
   neutralize, neutralise, liquidate, knock off, do in
   
   • The mafia liquidated the informer
   • the double agent was neutralized
6. spend extravagantly;
   consume, squander, ware
   
   • waste not, want not
7. lose vigor, health, or flesh, as through grief;
   pine away, languish
   
   • After her husband died, she just pined away
8. cause to grow thin or weak;
   emaciate, macerate
   
   • The treatment emaciated him
9. devastate or ravage;
   lay waste to, devastate, desolate, ravage, scourge
   
   • The enemy lay waste to the countryside after the invasion
10. waste away;
    rot
    
    • Political prisoners are wasting away in many prisons all over the world

adj.

1. located in a dismal or remote area; desolate;
   desert, godforsaken, wild
   
   • a desert island
   • a godforsaken wilderness crossroads
   • a wild stretch of land
   • waste places