discard
Americanverb (used with object)
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discards,
present (3rd person singular)
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discarded,
past participle, past
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discarding
present participle
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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)
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discards,
present (3rd person singular)
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discarded,
past participle, past
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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:
"To understand one day that you think you're important to somebody, and then all of a sudden you're not. They discard you like a piece of garbage."
From Barron's ● Sep. 11, 2026
"Consumers who have any recalled product should discard it immediately and not consume it. Refunds are available at the location of purchase," it added.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
It was a strange sight in Los Angeles, seeing stadium workers asking attendees to discard flags in an effort to censor the expression of people here.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2026
To remove that bias, the Dallas Fed designed its index to discard the 31% biggest increases in a given month, but only the 24% biggest decreases.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 31, 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
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
Most of these businesses offer pickup at the end of the season and have partnerships with farms, where they drop off discards that become food for animals.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 26, 2025
The array of fossils were found about 25 years ago by palaeontologist Elizabeth Smith and her daughter Clytie while they were going through the discards of an opal mine.
From BBC ● May 27, 2024
Eventually we were allowed to pick a few clothes from a heap of discards.
From "The Boy on the Wooden Box" by Leon Leyson
They fashioned toys out of discarded objects and created their own street games, said David Nasaw, a historian who wrote a book about children’s lives during this period.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026
A huge union jack artwork has been created by repurposing discarded flags from unauthorised lamp-post displays as a message of "unity".
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026
Intensely self-critical, he also discarded untold numbers of his own works.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
They’d later drive around L.A. to pick up discarded furniture and flip it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2026
If the line cannot be incorporated, it is discarded and a new one put down.
From "History of Art, Volume 1" by H.W. Janson
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
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
By discarding more of the increases, the Dallas Fed index inadvertently understated the upward trend in inflation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 31, 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
I read hard, discarding a writer as soon as I felt that I had grasped his point of view.
From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright
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.
