wasteland

[weyst-land]

noun

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.

wasteland

/ 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

Word History and Origins

Origin of wasteland¹

First recorded in 1630–40; waste + -land

Example Sentences

Since then, Basra War Cemetery has become a deserted wasteland, used by the locals for football or to dispose of rubbish.

Read more on BBC

They called the place La Ciénega, a corruption of an Indigenous word and an incongruous name — the swamp — in a desert wasteland.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The slopes along the coast had once been carpeted with grasses and flowers, but now they were a wasteland.

Read more on Literature

When you scan their rural town, a wasteland of Dollar General stores and fast food chains, most of their neighbors seem to have already faded away.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Just five years ago, midtown Manhattan was a wasteland as the pandemic dominated life in a city that had seen some of the darkest times of Covid-19 only months earlier.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• desert 
• swamp