garbage

American  

[gahr-bij] / ˈgɑr bɪdʒ /

noun

1. discarded animal and vegetable matter, as from a kitchen; refuse.

2. any matter that is no longer wanted or needed; trash.

3. a bin or other receptacle for discarded matter, especially kitchen waste; garbage can.

   Hey, who threw my leftover pizza in the garbage?

   Synonyms:

   taradiddle, malarkey, hogwash, claptrap, bunkum, nonsense, waste, trash, rubbish, junk, refuse, litter

4. anything that is contemptibly worthless, inferior, or vile.

   There's nothing but garbage on TV tonight.

5. worthless talk; lies; foolishness.

6. Informal. any unnecessary item added to something else, as for appearance only; garnish.

   I'll have an Old Fashioned, but without the garbage.

7. useless artificial satellites or parts of rockets floating in space, as satellites that are no longer transmitting information or rocket boosters jettisoned in flight.

8. Computers. meaningless or unwanted data.

   That program was not properly debugged and produced nothing but garbage.

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garbage British  

/ ˈɡɑːbɪdʒ /

noun

1. worthless, useless, or unwanted matter

2. Also called: rubbish.  discarded or waste matter; refuse

3. computing invalid data

4. informal nonsense

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Etymology

Origin of garbage

First recorded in 1400–50; Middle English garbage, gabage “discarded parts of butchered fowls; entrails of fowls used for human food”; compare with Middle English garbelage “removal of refuse from spices,” Middle English garbelure “refuse found in spices,” and Old French garbage (also jarbage ) “tax on sheaves of grain,” but the shift of sense here is unclear; further origin uncertain; see also garble, -age

Explanation

If you throw it in the trash, you can call it garbage. Likewise, if something is so terrible you wish you could throw it in the trash, like a really bad movie, you can also call it garbage. Everything in your kitchen trash is garbage — essentially, it's anything that's useless. Garbage can include vegetable scraps, wadded-up paper, or even spoken gibberish. The origin of the word garbage is a little uncertain, though in the 15th century it was used to mean literally "giblets of a fowl," or the extra parts that weren't considered food.

Example Sentences

Garbage is a good business, and Republic stock is rarely cheap.

From Barron's • May 15, 2026

May 7 The Are You Garbage? boys are back on the West Coast block headlining the Belasco during the Netflix festival, and if you can get tickets you’re about to have an insanely great hang.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 29, 2026

Garbage in Havana goes uncollected, and public transport is collapsing.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 6, 2026

Garbage singer Shirley Manson described Hogg as "our revered Scottish fashion queen".

From BBC • Nov. 26, 2025

Garbage was being carted away, potholes filled in.

From Full of Beans by Jennifer L. Holm