trash
Americannoun
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trash
plural
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anything worthless, useless, or discarded; rubbish.
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foolish or pointless ideas, talk, or writing; nonsense.
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a worthless or disreputable person.
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such persons collectively.
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literary or artistic material of poor or inferior quality.
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broken or torn bits, as twigs, splinters, rags, or the like.
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something that is broken or lopped off from anything in preparing it for use.
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the refuse of sugarcane after the juice has been expressed.
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Computers. an icon of a trash can that is used to delete files dragged onto it.
verb (used with object)
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trashes,
present (3rd person singular)
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trashed,
past participle, past
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trashing
present participle
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Slang. to destroy, damage, or vandalize, as in anger or protest.
The slovenly renters had trashed the house.
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to condemn, dismiss, or criticize as worthless.
The article trashed several recent best-sellers.
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to remove the outer leaves of (a growing sugarcane plant).
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to free from superfluous twigs or branches.
noun
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foolish ideas or talk; nonsense
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useless or unwanted matter or objects
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a literary or artistic production of poor quality
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a poor or worthless person or a group of such people
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bits that are broken or lopped off, esp the trimmings from trees or plants
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the dry remains of sugar cane after the juice has been extracted
verb
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to remove the outer leaves and branches from (growing plants, esp sugar cane)
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slang to attack or destroy (someone or something) wilfully or maliciously
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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trashsimple
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trashessimple
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have trashedperfect
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has trashedperfect
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am trashingprogressive
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are trashingprogressive
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is trashingprogressive
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have been trashingperfect progressive
-
has been trashingperfect progressive
Past
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trashedsimple
-
had trashedperfect
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was trashingprogressive
-
were trashingprogressive
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had been trashingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of trash
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English trasches (plural), apparently cognate with Norwegian trask “rubbish”; akin to Old English trus “brushwood,” Old Norse tros “rubbish”
Explanation
Trash is rubbish or garbage — it's the stuff that gets thrown away. Your town might organize a clean-up day each year when people pick up trash in parks and neighborhoods. Trash is dirty, worthless, leftover debris. Fittingly, the word is also a terribly derogatory term for useless, low-status people: "I should've known you were nothing but trash." And to trash talk is to brutally criticize or gossip about someone. You can even use trash as a verb, to mean "throw away," as in, "I'm going to trash this trash in that trash can over there."
Vocabulary lists containing trash
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:
“Not only am I not finding barf bags in the seat pocket, I’m also finding trash from prior passengers,” the 31-year-old motion designer from Atlanta said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
The Libyan authorities handed over a plastic "trash bag" containing some of his belongings, including a Quran, a prayer rug, clothing, toiletries, and medicine.
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026
While most schools reopened Wednesday, more than 500 remained at least partially closed with students blocking doors with mounds of trash bins.
From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026
Maybe he was just in a hurry to get to his next destination, which was recording a podcast, or maybe he thought there would be table service, but he left his trash on the table.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026
I read while I gather trash on the way to school.
From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy
Only firms in desperate need of cash sell more shares when their valuations are low, because it dilutes existing shareholders and trashes the share price.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 21, 2026
An attorney who trashes the rule of law must know that eventually she will be barred from practicing it.
From Salon ● Jun. 5, 2025
Spawned when the body trashes old red blood cells, the molecule is harmful refuse and a sign of illness.
From Science Magazine ● Jun. 8, 2023
Moses Castillo, a retired Los Angeles police detective who runs an Instagram account that praises Villanueva and trashes his opponents — including me — was subdued.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 8, 2022
Because it robs everything from another place the city causes trouble for others, and trashes the Earth is the process.
From Down with the Cities by Tadashi Nakashima
The worst ones seem to happen during bear markets, when the winning stocks of the preceding boom get trashed.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026
He was an intensive user of the Fed’s workhorse economic simulations even though he frequently trashed the models when staffers included the results in briefing materials.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026
"Right now the brand of AI has just been trashed and this certainly doesn't help," she said - noting widespread mistrust of the tech, particularly among young people.
From BBC ● May 19, 2026
In November, I wrote about the shameful condition of Robert F. Kennedy Inspiration Park in Koreatown, where the monument and grounds had been vandalized, trashed and fenced off.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 11, 2026
"I want the outer door locked in the fully open position with the mechanical stopper in place to keep it from being trashed by the decompress."
From "The Martian" by Andy Weir
We spent many weekends sorting through all the photo albums and loose photos we’d amassed or inherited, tossing the duplicate pictures and trashing my dad’s slides that were impossible to view easily.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026
“Like I said, I still have feelings about a young man trashing his whole life like that. But no.”
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
“Absolutely not! They made their decision and took the low road to unearned riches to play in a subpar league, while trashing the PGA Tour on the way out, showing a complete lack of sportsmanship.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 30, 2026
But taking a stand against his UK party leader still risks trashing a brand under which they both campaign.
From BBC ● Feb. 9, 2026
At least Beatriz ain’t cracking on me, but boy is she trashing Stephanie something good.
From "Like Vanessa" by Tami Charles
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
