discard
Americanverb (used with object)
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discards,
present (3rd person singular)
-
discarded,
past participle, past
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discarding
present participle
-
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)
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discards,
present (3rd person singular)
-
discarded,
past participle, past
-
discarding
present participle
noun
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discards
plural
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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:
Supermarkets in Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania and Sweden reported refrigeration problems that forced several retailers to discard food after temperatures rose.
From Barron's ● Nov. 3, 2026
Supermarkets have reported problems in Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Germany and Sweden, and the significant increase in freezer temperatures has forced retailers to discard food.
From BBC ● Nov. 3, 2026
These search engines and chatbots could help you place a price on items you are trying to discard.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026
That’s fine if the move is methodical, not fine if a health crisis turns it into a fire drill, forcing quick and painful decisions on what treasures to discard without a proper farewell.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026
“None of your damned shadowy Karhidish metaphors, now, Estraven. I waive shifgrethor; I discard it. Will you answer me?”
From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
They agree to meet again, but Kip completely discards his Western life.
From Salon ● Jul. 28, 2026
Back in the diamond belt of Sierra Leone, Daniel discards another sieve-load of gravel.
From BBC ● Jun. 3, 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
David: Steve Benen for MS NOW: Trump’s ‘God Squad’ discards the administration’s supposed interest in whale protections; Ella Nilsen for CNN: Only 50 of these whales are left in existence.
From Slate ● Apr. 2, 2026
Everything was custom engineered—“no hand-me-down magnets, no industrial discards . . . ‘no patch work,’ ” as the Joliots’ emissary Maurice Nahmias had derided the old standards.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
Police noticed his ankle monitor had stopped transmitting movement data and headed to the house, where they found the device discarded and Bertulazzi nowhere to be found.
From Barron's ● Nov. 11, 2026
Officers located and detained Stein in the area, and after a search, found a mini camera that had been discarded in a nearby trash can, police said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026
At Race Course, the wealth surrounding the settlements offered small but vital ways to earn money - dishes to wash, gardens to tend, discarded bottles to collect and sell.
From BBC ● Nov. 3, 2026
Any pretense at acceptance has long been discarded.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 20, 2026
On weekdays, after work, Roberto and I regularly went to the city dump with Trampita and Torito to look for discarded treasures, like wood, paint, and broken toys.
From "Breaking Through" by Francisco Jiménez
I generally prefer, as a strategic matter, an elevation of shared values—inclusive, connective, moral language such as reclaiming, rather than reinventing or discarding.
From Slate ● Aug. 3, 2026
AFP reporters saw hundreds of people -- men, women and children -- entering Ceuta, discarding flotation rings and clothes used in their crossing.
From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026
For salad lovers, experts recommend buying whole heads of lettuce and removing and discarding the outer couple of layers of leaves.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
Schrader said it typically takes him four to six months to fully develop a screenplay idea, a process of testing, discarding and gradually refining concepts until they either strengthen or collapse under scrutiny.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 28, 2026
Having mounded them up, I shuffled through them, discarding some upon the floor.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
