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

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 mid-1980s, the North American Soccer League had collapsed—and the U.S. was widely viewed as a soccer wasteland.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026

It’s a surrealist painting in motion, the equivalent of staring at Salvador Dali’s wasteland of melting clocks until it makes gut-sense.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 28, 2026

The hit TV show is an adaptation of the popular role-playing game of the same name, set 200 years after a nuclear war leaves the Earth a wasteland.

From BBC ● Dec. 3, 2025

Closer and closer came the line of trees, and darker and darker grew the wasteland.

From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer

Millions of visitors are going to experience American cities that they’ve been told are unlivable wastelands.

From Salon ● Feb. 10, 2026

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

And standing motionless in his technical area was the man who is shaping a new era away from the wastelands Manchester United have been occupying since their last success in the 2017 Europa League Final.

From BBC ● Feb. 26, 2023

Their environments ran the gamut, from sword-and-sorcery settings to cyberpunk-themed planetwide cities to irradiated postapocalyptic zombie-infested wastelands.

From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline

Related Words

• desert
• swamp