waste noun

1 missing an opportunity to do/use sth

ADJ. absolute, complete, total, utter The whole thing has been a complete waste of time. | colossal, great, tremendous | awful, criminal, senseless, shocking, terrible a criminal waste of public money | needless, unnecessary, useless | tragic a tragic waste of human life | expensive | conspicuous

VERB + WASTE go to If nobody comes all this food will go to waste. | cause | avoid Try to avoid unnecessary waste. | cut down on, reduce | minimize

PREP. ~ of a waste of energy/resources

2 unwanted substances/things

ADJ. dangerous, harmful, hazardous, poisonous, toxic a dump containing hazardous waste | non-toxic | high-level, intermediate-level, low-level | recyclable | agricultural, commercial, industrial | domestic, household, kitchen All household waste should be disposed of in strong garbage bags. | clinical, hospital, medical | nuclear, radioactive | chemical | plastic | organic | animal, human | garden, plant | municipal | liquid, solid | food, energy

VERB + WASTE produce Tonnes of waste are produced every year. | dispose of, dump, get rid of More people are dumping waste illegally. | clean up the highly expensive task of cleaning up toxic waste | burn, incinerate an incinerator for burning hospital waste | bury, store | process, treat facilities for processing radioactive waste | recycle, reprocess | deal with, handle, manage the best solutions for managing waste | cut down on, reduce | eliminate | export, import Industrialized countries continue to export their waste.

WASTE + VERB contaminate sth, pollute sth areas contaminated by industrial waste

WASTE + NOUN collection | burial, disposal, incineration | storage | processing, recycling, reprocessing, treatment a waste reprocessing plant | management | minimization, reduction | bin | dump, site, tip The river was used for years as an industrial waste dump. | outlet, pipe | imports a ban on waste imports

3 wastes: areas of ground not lived in or cultivated

ADJ. frozen, icy the frozen wastes of Antarctica

waste verb

ADV. (not) entirely, (not) totally In the end her efforts were not entirely wasted. | just, simply You're just wasting your breath. She never listens. | largely

VERB + WASTE can't afford to, not want to He didn't want to waste valuable time in idle gossip. | be/seem a shame to It seems a shame to waste this good food. | not be going to I'm not going to waste any more time on the problem.

PREP. on Don't waste your money on a hotel room.

PHRASES no time to waste Hurry up?there's no time to waste!

You can also check other dicts: waste (English, 中文解释 ), wordnet sense, Collins Definition

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