wasted
Americanadjective
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done to no avail; useless.
wasted efforts.
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physically or psychologically exhausted; debilitated.
to be wasted by a long illness.
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Slang. overcome by the influence of alcohol or drugs.
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Archaic. (of time) gone by.
adjective
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not exploited or taken advantage of
a wasted opportunity
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useless or unprofitable
wasted effort
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physically enfeebled and emaciated
a thin wasted figure
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slang showing signs of habitual drug abuse
Other Word Forms
- unwasted adjective
- wastedness noun
Etymology
Origin of wasted
late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50; waste, -ed 2
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.
It creates multiple pathways for energy to move through the system, reduces wasted power, and lessens the strain on the resonator.
From Science Daily • Apr. 10, 2026
And as a result, some promising scoring chances were wasted.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 5, 2026
They wasted little time in sharing those moments as the documentary airs less than four months since their son, Ziggy, was born.
From BBC • Apr. 4, 2026
“Harvard sued us. Harvard stonewalled us on document requests to which we were entitled. Harvard is defiant. And they’ve wasted time with settlement negotiations that I believe were not in good faith.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 27, 2026
“You wasted no time ingratiating yourself, did you?” he says.
From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
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.
