Word · CEFR B1 · Frequency #1624
waste
浪费；挥霍；白费
to use money, time, or resources carelessly or without good effect
- 1.
To devastate; to destroy.
- 2.
To squander (money or resources) uselessly; to spend (time) idly; to dissipate.
- 3.
To wear away by degrees; to impair gradually; to deteriorate; to diminish by constant loss; to use up; to consume; to spend; to wear out.
- 4.
To gradually lose weight, weaken, become frail.
- 5.
To be diminished; to lose bulk, substance, strength, value etc. gradually.
- 6.
To damage, impair, or injure (an estate, etc.) voluntarily, or by allowing the buildings, fences, etc., to fall into decay.
（使）衰弱；消瘦；逐渐减少；消耗；磨损；损耗；破坏；毁坏；（因疏忽）使荒废；损毁；浪费
In use
Don't waste your money on things you don't need.
He wasted the whole afternoon playing video games.
She wasted a good opportunity by arriving late.
waste something
Don't waste food.
不要浪费食物。
waste something on something
He wasted his allowance on candy.
他把零花钱浪费在糖果上。
waste something doing something
She wasted an hour waiting for the bus.
她浪费了一个小时等公交。
Connections
Collocations
- waste time
- 浪费时间
- Don't waste time worrying about things you can't change.别把时间浪费在无法改变的事情上。
- waste money
- 浪费钱
- Don't waste money on things you don't need.别把钱浪费在你不需要的东西上。
- waste an opportunity
- 浪费（错过）一个机会
- She wasted a golden opportunity to study abroad.她错过了出国留学的宝贵机会。
- waste energy
- 浪费精力；白费力气
- You're just wasting energy arguing with him.你跟他争论只是白费力气。
- waste resources
- 浪费资源
- The government was criticized for wasting resources on unnecessary projects.政府因把资源浪费在无谓的项目上而受到批评。
- waste away
Learner notes
Memory Tip
想象水龙头一直开着，水白白流走，这就是 waste（浪费）。
Context & Register
语域：neutral 常见场景：everyday advice or criticism、business and resource management、personal time management 在此义项（浪费、挥霍）中，waste 属中性常用词，口语和书面语都自然，通常多用于日常对话、职场讨论或正式报告；语气常带批评或惋惜。
Grammar Note
及物动词，后接宾语，常用搭配 waste time/money on sth.
Pronunciation & Spelling
这些词都与 waste /weɪst/ 押韵：taste、haste、paste、baste、chaste（都以 -aste 结尾，读 /eɪst/）；waist 拼写不同但发音完全相同。注意形近词 water /ˈwɔːtər/ 和 watch /wɑːtʃ/ 的读音与 waste 不同。
High-value vocabulary
该词属于 Oxford 核心词汇，值得优先掌握常见搭配和句型。
Usage priority
Collins 词频等级为 4，建议结合例句记忆，而不是只背中文释义。
Learn the forms together
页面下方列出了常见词形变化。学习时注意它们在句子中的语法位置。
Dictionary facts from DICTIONARY_API_DEV, ECDICT, WIKTIONARY.