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
-
had trashedperfect
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was trashingprogressive
-
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:
But the Sanitation Department wants to modernize New York’s outdated trash system—can it?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026
“These are all good things: cleaning trash, picking up gates. But we’re still left with more questions than answers.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
The first time he decided to trash one of the cameras, a self-styled vigilante wearing all black and known as Nomark says he was "super nervous."
From Barron's ● Aug. 9, 2026
Outside, he said, trash had not been picked up.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 8, 2026
Then he tore the paper into pieces and threw it in the trash can beside his desk, because how would JB know that they called him JB?
From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
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
The former insurance executive trashes five days a week, and hikes in the Santa Susana Mountains every Friday afternoon with several volunteers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2025
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
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
In March 1989, a midday tube rupture at the Chevron refinery in El Segundo sent cleaning solvent-filled steam into the air and trashed the paint jobs on about 2,000 neighboring cars and trucks.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 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
Longoria has had mixed experiences with Airbnb—she still remembers the night a guest threw a party and trashed the place.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 30, 2026
But I had to find out, to understand why giant fly-infested monsters and demons had trashed our home.
From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda
According to lawyers and formerly detained immigrants who spoke to Salon, ICE and Border Patrol officers never admit to trashing or keeping these items, but that they have not been found anywhere.
From Salon ● Mar. 4, 2026
The story is goofy and the trashing of Philly is gleeful.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 12, 2026
"Scientists trashing each other in the media is not constructive."
From Barron's ● Jan. 27, 2026
"He hated that, you know, people were just trashing the land," Susan Pretti told AP.
From BBC ● Jan. 25, 2026
Dr. Barlow Sloan spent a whole chapter of the Dinoguide trashing knuckleskulls.
From "Dactyl Hill Squad" by Daniel José Older
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.
