go to waste

1. Fail to be used or taken advantage of. For example, I hate to see such talent go to waste, or We bought so much food that some will be going to waste. [c. 1500]

Example Sentences

But as the late Dan Bunting, a terrific money manager over many decades in London, used to say: “Never let a bubble go to waste. You will make the most money from the worst stocks.”

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KFF’s misleading claim about premiums’ doubling echoes the maxim of not letting a good crisis go to waste, even if one has to use deceptive rhetoric to overstate the supposed “crisis.”

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“We’re grinding over here, we’re not letting anything go to waste or not giving effort in one area or another,” Skipper said of his staff’s recruiting efforts.

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Unable to make it to the market, his precious merchandise will likely go to waste.

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But even if we are in a bubble, the hope from Silicon Valley is investments being made now won't necessary go to waste.

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Related Words

• blow 
• consume 
• deplete 
• dissipate 
• divert 
• drain 
• exhaust 
• lavish 
• lose 
• misuse 
• squander 
• undermine