wasting Meaning, Definition & Usage

1. noun any general reduction in vitality and strength of body and mind resulting from a debilitating chronic disease
   cachexy; cachexia.
   
2. noun a decrease in size of an organ caused by disease or disuse
   atrophy; wasting away.
   
3. verb spend thoughtlessly; throw away
   blow; waste; squander.
   
   • He wasted his inheritance on his insincere friends
   • You squandered the opportunity to get and advanced degree
4. verb use inefficiently or inappropriately
   waste.
   
   • waste heat
   • waste a joke on an unappreciative audience
5. verb get rid of
   waste.
   
   • We waste the dirty water by channeling it into the sewer
6. verb run off as waste
   waste; run off.
   
   • The water wastes back into the ocean
7. verb get rid of (someone who may be a threat) by killing
   knock off; neutralize; liquidate; do in; waste; neutralise.
   
   • The mafia liquidated the informer
   • the double agent was neutralized
8. verb spend extravagantly
   ware; waste; consume; squander.
   
   • waste not, want not
9. verb lose vigor, health, or flesh, as through grief
   waste; pine away; languish.
   
   • After her husband died, she just pined away
10. verb cause to grow thin or weak
    macerate; emaciate; waste.
    
    • The treatment emaciated him
11. verb cause extensive destruction or ruin utterly
    desolate; devastate; scourge; lay waste to; ravage; waste.
    
    • The enemy lay waste to the countryside after the invasion
12. verb become physically weaker
    waste; rot.
    
    • Political prisoners are wasting away in many prisons all over the world

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