garbage

[ gahr-bij ]

/ ˈgɑr bɪdʒ /

Save This Word!

See synonyms for garbage on Thesaurus.com

noun

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

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

a bin or other receptacle for discarded matter, especially kitchen waste; garbage can: Hey, who threw my leftover pizza in the garbage?

anything that is contemptibly worthless, inferior, or vile: There's nothing but garbage on TV tonight.

worthless talk; lies; foolishness.

Informal. any unnecessary item added to something else, as for appearance only; garnish: I'll have an Old Fashioned, but without the garbage.

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

Computers. meaningless or unwanted data: That program was not properly debugged and produced nothing but garbage.

OTHER WORDS FOR garbage

1, 2 litter, refuse, junk, rubbish, trash, waste.

5 nonsense; bunkum, claptrap, hogwash, malarkey, taradiddle.

See synonyms for garbage on Thesaurus.com

QUIZ

WILL YOU SAIL OR STUMBLE ON THESE GRAMMAR QUESTIONS?

Smoothly step over to these common grammar mistakes that trip many people up. Good luck!

Question 1 of 7

Fill in the blank: I can’t figure out _____ gave me this gift.

who

whom

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

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

Words nearby garbage

garam masala, Garamond, Garand, Garand rifle, garb, garbage, garbage can, garbage collection, garbage in, garbage out, garbageman, garbage truck

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use garbage in a sentence

Since the spring, the 54-year-old Montgomery County man has spent his daily walks into the District collecting garbage around the city, usually filling at least two trash bags with waste.
The ‘garbage guy’ walks 12 miles a day around D.C. picking up trash: ‘I’ll pick up pretty much anything.’|Sydney Page|February 11, 2021|Washington Post
There’s a certain sense of accomplishment that comes from dutifully sorting soda bottles, plastic bags and yogurt cups from the rest of the garbage.
Chemists are reimagining recycling to keep plastics out of landfills|Maria Temming|January 27, 2021|Science News
Separating food waste from your garbage can mean more space at the landfill, so governments won’t have to spend money and land on a new one.
Environment Report: Local Farms Want Your Table Scraps|MacKenzie Elmer|January 25, 2021|Voice of San Diego
So, if someone’s in a restaurant with me, and they eat a hamburger and they only eat half of it, I, in principle, will eat it, because it’s going to go in the garbage.
The Downside of Disgust (Ep. 448)|Stephen J. Dubner|January 21, 2021|Freakonomics

Don’t attempt to burn or bury it, either, as food waste and garbage is more difficult to burn than you think, and fire pits are one of the first areas wildlife investigate.
Once you know what happens to food you leave outdoors, you’ll stop doing it|Alisha McDarris|January 14, 2021|Popular-Science
“Angry Birds is a small fun game plus a lot of pointless garbage,” Smith tells me.
Lost For Thousands of Strokes: 'Desert Golfing' Is 'Angry Birds' as Modern Art|Alec Kubas-Meyer|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST
“At worst, Eric picked up a garbage can, was told by police to put it down, and did,” his lawyer, Martin Stoler, insisted.
Protesters Slimed This Good Samaritan Cop|Michael Daly|December 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Brabner talked about the “MTV people” coming to Cleveland to get pictures of Pekar emptying the garbage and going bowling.
The Rustbelt Roars Back From the Dead|Joel Kotkin, Richey Piiparinen|December 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The kid moved again, slowly across the parking lot to the garbage bin.
The Stacks: A Chicken Dinner That Mends Your Heart|Pete Dexter|December 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Then he took the chicken and walked over to his spot near the garbage and sat down to eat it.
The Stacks: A Chicken Dinner That Mends Your Heart|Pete Dexter|December 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Above all, the doctor—the doctor and the purulent trash and garbage of his pharmacopoeia!
The Pocket R.L.S.|Robert Louis Stevenson
Foiled in this attempt they began to pelt them with garbage, so that soon their white robes were stained and filthy.
Fair Margaret|H. Rider Haggard
He would give me such words as "combustion," "garbage disposal," "bonded indebtedness" and so on.
The Iron Puddler|James J. Davis
The pigsties have no more smell than the stables, because the manure is removed, and no garbage is allowed to accumulate.
The Hills and the Vale|Richard Jefferies
He had a couple of dingy wash-boilers which he had picked up from the big garbage-dump near the race-track.
Tramping on Life|Harry Kemp

British Dictionary definitions for garbage

garbage

/ (ˈɡɑːbɪdʒ) /

noun

worthless, useless, or unwanted matter

Also called: rubbish discarded or waste matter; refuse

computing invalid data

informal nonsense

Word Origin for garbage

C15: probably from Anglo-French garbelage removal of discarded matter, of uncertain origin; compare Old Italian garbuglio confusion

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

garbage

OTHER WORDS FOR garbage

Origin of garbage

Words nearby garbage

Words related to garbage

How to use garbage in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for garbage

Word Origin for garbage