laying waste
ruin
ruining
ruination
wrecking | destruction achieved by causing something to be wrecked or ruined |
waste
wastefulness dissipation | useless or profitless activity, using or expending or consuming thoughtlessly or carelessly, if the effort brings no compensating gain it is a waste, mindless dissipation of natural resources |
waste of effort
waste of energy | a useless effort |
| waste of material | a useless consumption of material |
| waste of money | money spent for inadequate return, the senator said that the project was a waste of money |
| waste of time | the devotion of time to a useless activity, the waste of time could prove fatal |
| waste permissive waste | (law) reduction in the value of an estate caused by act or neglect |
drain
drainpipe
waste pipe | a pipe through which liquid is carried away |
wastepaper basket
waste-paper basket
wastebasket
waste basket
circular file | a container with an open top, for discarded paper and other rubbish |
thriftlessness
waste
wastefulness | the trait of wasting resources, a life characterized by thriftlessness and waste, the wastefulness of missed opportunities |
barren
waste
wasteland | an uninhabited wilderness that is worthless for cultivation, the barrens of central Africa, the trackless wastes of the desert |
dump
garbage dump
trash dump
rubbish dump
wasteyard
waste-yard
dumpsite | a piece of land where waste materials are dumped |
toxic waste dump
toxic waste site
toxic dumpsite | a location where toxic wastes can be or have been disposed of (often illegally) |
toxic site
toxic waste area
Superfund site | a site where toxic wastes have been dumped and the Environmental Protection Agency has designated them to be cleaned up |
pulmonary tuberculosis
consumption
phthisis
wasting disease
white plague | involving the lungs with progressive wasting of the body |
| chronic wasting disease | a wildlife disease (akin to bovine spongiform encephalitis) that affects deer and elk |
atrophy
wasting
wasting away | a decrease in size of an organ caused by disease or disuse |
cachexia
cachexy
wasting | any general reduction in vitality and strength of body and mind resulting from a debilitating chronic disease |
body waste
excretion
excreta
excrement
excretory product | waste matter (as urine or sweat but especially feces) discharged from the body |
| human waste | the body wastes of human beings |
waste
waste material
waste matter
waste product | any materials unused and rejected as worthless or unwanted, they collect the waste once a week, much of the waste material is carried off in the sewers |
garbage
refuse
food waste
scraps | food that is discarded (as from a kitchen) |
toxic waste
toxic industrial waste | poisonous waste materials, can cause injury (especially by chemical means) |
| high-level radioactive waste | radioactive waste that left in a nuclear reactor after the nuclear fuel has been consumed |
| low-level radioactive waste | (medicine) radioactive waste consisting of objects that have been briefly exposed to radioactivity (as in certain medical tests) |
| radioactive waste | useless radioactive materials that are left after some laboratory or commercial process is completed |
| waste paper | paper discarded after use |
waste
rot | become physically weaker, Political prisoners are wasting away in many prisons all over the world |
lay waste to
waste
devastate
desolate ravage scourge | cause extensive destruction or ruin utterly, The enemy lay waste to the countryside after the invasion |
| waste emaciate macerate | cause to grow thin or weak, The treatment emaciated him |
pine away
waste languish | lose vigor, health, or flesh, as through grief, After her husband died, she just pined away |
consume squander
waste
ware | spend extravagantly, waste not, want not |
| waste | use inefficiently or inappropriately, waste heat, waste a joke on an unappreciative audience |
neutralize
neutralise
liquidate
waste
knock off
do in | get rid of (someone who may be a threat) by killing, The mafia liquidated the informer, the double agent was neutralized |
waste
run off | run off as waste, The water wastes back into the ocean |
| waste | get rid of, We waste the dirty water by channeling it into the sewer |
waste
blow squander | spend thoughtlessly, throw away, He wasted his inheritance on his insincere friends, You squandered the opportunity to get and advanced degree |
d bum
bum around
bum about
arse around
arse about
fuck off
loaf frig around
waste one's time
lounge around
loll
loll around
lounge about | be lazy or idle, Her son is just bumming around all day |
atrophied
wasted diminished | (of an organ or body part) diminished in size or strength as a result of disease or injury or lack of use, partial paralysis resulted in an atrophied left arm |
bony
cadaverous
emaciated
gaunt
haggard
pinched
skeletal
wasted | very thin especially from disease or hunger or cold, emaciated bony hands, a nightmare population of gaunt men and skeletal boys, eyes were haggard and cavernous, small pinched faces, kept life in his wasted frame only by grim concentration |
godforsaken
waste
wild | located in a dismal or remote area, desolate, a desert island, a godforsaken wilderness crossroads, a wild stretch of land, waste places |
squandered
wasted | not used to good advantage, squandered money cannot be replaced, a wasted effort |
otiose
pointless
purposeless
senseless
superfluous
wasted | serving no useful purpose, having no excuse for being, otiose lines in a play, advice is wasted words, a pointless remark, a life essentially purposeless, senseless violence |