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Synonyms

go to waste

Idioms  

  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

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

To paraphrase some anonymous wag, never let a cross-cultural calamity go to waste.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 7, 2026

The results suggest that tyrannosaurs did not let resources go to waste.

From Science Daily • May 5, 2026

So is there a sweet spot, somewhere between voting in haste and having your ballot go to waste?

From Los Angeles Times • May 3, 2026

Greek yogurt is one of the few ingredients that has matched my energy in the kitchen: constantly improvising, making it work with what I got, and never letting things go to waste.

From Salon • Apr. 28, 2026

If he sent it back, though, it would only go to waste or to somebody else, and Major Major had a weakness for broiled lobster.

From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller

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.