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waste

Roget category 638

5. Words relating to the voluntary powers
5.2. Prospective volition
›› 5.2.2. Subservience to ends

#638. Waste

noun

consumption, expenditure, exhaustiondispersion etc. 73ebbleakage etc. (exudation) 295loss etc. 776wear and tearwasteprodigality etc. 818misuse etc. 679wasting etc. v. — rubbish etc. (useless) 645.
mountain in labor.

verb

spend, expend, use, consume, swallow up, exhaustimpoverishspill, drain, emptydisperse etc. 73.
cast away, fool away, muddle away, throw away, fling away, fritter awayburn the candle at both ends, wastesquander etc. 818.
waste its sweetness on the desert air" [Gray]; cast one's bread upon the waters, cast pearls before swineemploy a steam engine to crack a nut, waste powder and shot, break a butterfly on a wheellabor in vain etc. (useless) 645cut blocks with a razor, pour water into a sieve.
leak etc. (run out) 295run to wasteebbmelt away, run dry, dry up.

adjective

wasted etc. v. — at a low ebb.
wasteful etc. (prodigal) 818penny wise and pound foolish.

phrase

magno conatu magnas nugas [Lat.]le jeu ne vaut pas la chandelle [Fr.]idly busy rolls their world away" [Goldsmith].

The content on this page comes straight from Project Gutenberg Etext of Roget's Thesaurus No. Two, which consists of the acclaimed work by Peter Mark Roget augmented with more recent material. Some changes were made to the formatting for improved readability.

Bold numbers signify related Roget categories. A dagger symbol (†) indicates archaic words and expressions no longer in common use.

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