trash
Americannoun
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trash
plural
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anything worthless, useless, or discarded; rubbish.
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foolish or pointless ideas, talk, or writing; nonsense.
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a worthless or disreputable person.
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such persons collectively.
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literary or artistic material of poor or inferior quality.
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broken or torn bits, as twigs, splinters, rags, or the like.
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something that is broken or lopped off from anything in preparing it for use.
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the refuse of sugarcane after the juice has been expressed.
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Computers. an icon of a trash can that is used to delete files dragged onto it.
verb (used with object)
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trashes,
present (3rd person singular)
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trashed,
past participle, past
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trashing
present participle
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Slang. to destroy, damage, or vandalize, as in anger or protest.
The slovenly renters had trashed the house.
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to condemn, dismiss, or criticize as worthless.
The article trashed several recent best-sellers.
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to remove the outer leaves of (a growing sugarcane plant).
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to free from superfluous twigs or branches.
noun
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foolish ideas or talk; nonsense
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useless or unwanted matter or objects
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a literary or artistic production of poor quality
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a poor or worthless person or a group of such people
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bits that are broken or lopped off, esp the trimmings from trees or plants
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the dry remains of sugar cane after the juice has been extracted
verb
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to remove the outer leaves and branches from (growing plants, esp sugar cane)
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slang to attack or destroy (someone or something) wilfully or maliciously
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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trashsimple
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trashessimple
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have trashedperfect
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has trashedperfect
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am trashingprogressive
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are trashingprogressive
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is trashingprogressive
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have been trashingperfect progressive
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has been trashingperfect progressive
Past
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trashedsimple
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had trashedperfect
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was trashingprogressive
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were trashingprogressive
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had been trashingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of trash
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English trasches (plural), apparently cognate with Norwegian trask “rubbish”; akin to Old English trus “brushwood,” Old Norse tros “rubbish”
Explanation
Trash is rubbish or garbage — it's the stuff that gets thrown away. Your town might organize a clean-up day each year when people pick up trash in parks and neighborhoods. Trash is dirty, worthless, leftover debris. Fittingly, the word is also a terribly derogatory term for useless, low-status people: "I should've known you were nothing but trash." And to trash talk is to brutally criticize or gossip about someone. You can even use trash as a verb, to mean "throw away," as in, "I'm going to trash this trash in that trash can over there."
Vocabulary lists containing trash
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:
The city also began charging the department for the cost of water, electricity, trash pickup and other city services.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
If you look for a bystander to trash talk your beloved, you will surely find one.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 28, 2026
I can’t stand all this plastic trash we elevate above the natural world.
From Salon ● Sep. 26, 2026
The predictable and monotonous operations of a landfill—dozens of tractor-trailers dump nearly 1,800 tons of trash at Marana daily—are ideal for automated equipment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
After the Japanese seize all the garbage trucks, trash collects in enormous heaps on the roadway.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
Only firms in desperate need of cash sell more shares when their valuations are low, because it dilutes existing shareholders and trashes the share price.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 21, 2026
An attorney who trashes the rule of law must know that eventually she will be barred from practicing it.
From Salon ● Jun. 5, 2025
Spawned when the body trashes old red blood cells, the molecule is harmful refuse and a sign of illness.
From Science Magazine ● Jun. 8, 2023
But the new ad campaign is facing significant backlash — with critics calling it a “new Barbie” that trashes Italy’s cultural heritage.
From Seattle Times ● May 6, 2023
He that wades so far as to wet and foul himself, cares not how much he trashes further.—South.
From Pearls of Thought by Maturin Murray Ballou
The worst ones seem to happen during bear markets, when the winning stocks of the preceding boom get trashed.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026
Open, he trashed a locker at Oakmont and received a ban from the club.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 21, 2026
"Right now the brand of AI has just been trashed and this certainly doesn't help," she said - noting widespread mistrust of the tech, particularly among young people.
From BBC ● May 19, 2026
In November, I wrote about the shameful condition of Robert F. Kennedy Inspiration Park in Koreatown, where the monument and grounds had been vandalized, trashed and fenced off.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 11, 2026
The report Eisman wrote trashed all of the subprime originators; one by one, he exposed the deceptions of a dozen companies.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
“Like I said, I still have feelings about a young man trashing his whole life like that. But no.”
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
Getting rid of stuff is something we do nearly every week, through donating, trashing and shredding.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 23, 2026
So to perhaps the result that ended Bazball in the minds of many, even if not in reality: An Ashes trashing in Australia.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
The story is goofy and the trashing of Philly is gleeful.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 12, 2026
We noticed that Perch was now in the process of trashing his cell and was throwing things—clothing, paper, toiletries—across the flats.
From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover
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.
