wasteland

American  

[weyst-land] / ˈweɪstˌlænd /

noun

• wastelands
  plural

1. land that is uncultivated or barren.

2. an area that is devastated, as by flood, storm, or war.

3. something, as a period of history, phase of existence, or locality, that is spiritually or intellectually barren.

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wasteland British  

/ ˈweɪstˌlænd /

noun

1. a barren or desolate area of land, not or no longer used for cultivation or building

2. a region, period in history, etc, that is considered spiritually, intellectually, or aesthetically barren or desolate

   American television is a cultural wasteland

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• wastelands
  plural

Etymology

Origin of wasteland

First recorded in 1630–40; waste + -land

Explanation

A wasteland is someplace that's empty and desolate, with no sign of life or growth. An area may be a wasteland because of toxic materials in the soil, or due to climate conditions like strong winds. You can't grow anything in a wasteland, despite all that open space — typically, the soil doesn't have enough nutrients for plants to survive. Sometimes a barren area with limited biodiversity is called a wasteland, though a few species do grow there. A neglected urban area, like an empty lot or a playground that's unused and in disrepair, might also be called a wasteland. T.S. Eliot's most famous poem, "The Waste Land," alludes to a wasteland from Arthurian legend.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

wasteland wastelands

The play, which had its premiere off-Broadway at the Vineyard Theatre, is a freewheeling love story, set in a skate park in the middle of an urban wasteland.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026

However the bunker is still visible in a patch of wasteland.

From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2026

Half a lifetime ago, I had a crappy copyediting job that meant I had to drive for 90 minutes through traffic across the sprawling concrete wasteland of Phoenix.

From Salon ● Jun. 15, 2026

Those of us who languish in the academic wasteland are too tardy to lament, so little has changed.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026

By the turn of the century the fringes of the continent were fairly well defined on the charts, but the interior was still an unknown wasteland of ice.

From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong

In both public perception and official policy, savannas in India and elsewhere have often been labeled "wastelands."

From Science Daily ● Feb. 1, 2026

Multiple generations of Americans have been socialized to believe that a mecca of cheap, dirty pleasures awaits in the wastelands of southern Nevada.

From Slate ● Nov. 18, 2025

People like Tommy know such wastelands hold opportunity.

From Salon ● Nov. 16, 2025

Aaron, meanwhile, plays Maximus, a member of the Brotherhood of Steel - one of the Fallout world's tribal communities that live outside in the wastelands.

From BBC ● Apr. 11, 2024

At each halt a frozen, unbroken silence lay outside the steel walls of our box, the silence of vast wastelands, of the heights.

From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin

Related Words

• desert
• swamp