discard
Americanverb (used with object)
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to cast aside or dispose of; get rid of.
to discard an old hat.
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Cards.
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to throw out (a card or cards) from one's hand.
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to play (a card, not a trump, of a different suit from that of the card led).
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verb (used without object)
noun
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the act of discarding.
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a person or thing that is cast out or rejected.
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Cards. a card or cards discarded.
verb
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(tr) to get rid of as useless or undesirable
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cards to throw out (a card or cards) from one's hand
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cards to play (a card not of the suit led nor a trump) when unable to follow suit
noun
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a person or thing that has been cast aside
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cards a discarded card
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the act of discarding
Usage
What does discard mean? To discard something is to dispose of it or get rid of it. In card games, to discard a card is to get rid of it, such as by putting it in the discard pile. Discard can also be used as a noun referring to a card that has been discarded. It can also be used as a noun in a general way, but this is less common. Example: You should have thought about fixing up that old chair instead of just discarding it.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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discardsimple
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discardssimple
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have discardedperfect
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has discardedperfect
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am discardingprogressive
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are discardingprogressive
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is discardingprogressive
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have been discardingperfect progressive
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has been discardingperfect progressive
Past
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discardedsimple
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had discardedperfect
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was discardingprogressive
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were discardingprogressive
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had been discardingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of discard
Explanation
When you discard something, you get rid of it. If your closet is overflowing with clothes you haven't worn since 1992, why not discard some of them? When the verb discard first entered the English language in the sixteenth century, it referred to card playing and meant “to throw a card away.” Discard is still used to describe getting rid of unlucky cards, but today, you’ll also hear it used in a broader sense — we discard, or throw away, things that are undesirable or no longer useful. You might discard a worn out shoe, for example.
Vocabulary lists containing discard
Good Riddance
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The Circuit
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Stuart Little
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
It is easier for a newcomer to discard a tool than for the person who spent years using it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026
On behalf of the intervenors, Shayla Myers argued that the encampment removal goal, approved by the City Council in a closed session, became a defacto quota system for sanitation workers to discard homeless people’s belongings.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 7, 2026
Cut out the trapezoidal vent in the middle of the sail, as indicated, and discard.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 3, 2026
In torrential rain, Senegal goalkeeper Edouard Mendy regularly dried his gloves, but the ball boys repeatedly tried to discard his towel.
From BBC ● Mar. 18, 2026
On its side, faded words said: discard after 40 hours use.
From "Ship Breaker" by Paolo Bacigalupi
They agree to meet again, but Kip completely discards his Western life.
From Salon ● Jul. 28, 2026
The show’s path to hit status is an unusual story for Hollywood, which often discards shows that aren’t immediately successful.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 24, 2026
This measurement, which has critics and fans, discards the categories with the most extreme inflation readings on both the high and low ends.
From Barron's ● May 6, 2026
And when the season is over, these commercialized Christmas sweaters often meet the same fate as other fast-fashion discards: donation piles or thrift stores.
From Slate ● Dec. 12, 2024
Over and over he crosses out symbols and numbers, discards books in favor of others, and then returns to the discarded ones again.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
Even her grandson’s discarded computer parts made a cameo, a testament to Saar’s uncanny ability to mine inspiration from the most mundane objects.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2026
Investigators are typically working weeks after an outbreak begins, when the food in question has been consumed or discarded, or contamination is no longer detectable.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026
That foil packet tucked neatly with your dry noodles is meant to be used, not discarded.
From Salon ● Jul. 19, 2026
The result suggests that living plastics could eventually be used in products that need to remain durable for a limited time but should not persist after they are discarded.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 17, 2026
Her voice was surprisingly normal and friendly, and I wondered why it was she had taken the trouble to come up with my discarded sketch herself.
From "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier
All have moved on since then, while another chunky collection of caps has been lost through the discarding of Jack Leach, Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope.
From BBC ● Jun. 16, 2026
Donating it doesn’t feel right, she said, and neither does discarding it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 7, 2026
We are rewarding technical knowledge and discarding the other two.
From MarketWatch ● May 7, 2026
That means, in part, becoming more and more of a closed ecosystem, discarding customization methods that might take you away from official big-name apps or, worse, leave a cash-generating option on the table.
From Slate ● May 3, 2026
Women, I know, sometimes have themselves shorn at those watershed moments of their lives, like discarding the memory of a man.
From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
