Roget's Thesaurus

#638. Waste

Nouns

consumption, expenditure, exhaustion; dispersion etc. 73; ebb; leakage etc. (exudation) 295; loss etc. 776; wear and tear; waste; prodigality etc. 818; misuse etc. 679; wasting etc. v.; rubbish etc. (useless) 645. mountain in labor.

Verbs

spend, expend, use, consume, swallow up, exhaust; impoverish; spill, drain, empty; disperse etc. 73. cast away, fool away, muddle away, throw away, fling away, fritter away; burn the candle at both ends, waste; squander etc. 818. waste its sweetness on the desert air [Gray]; cast one's bread upon the waters, cast pearls before swine; employ a steam engine to crack a nut, waste powder and shot, break a butterfly on a wheel; labor in vain etc. (useless) 645; cut blocks with a razor, pour water into a sieve. leak etc. (run out) 295; run to waste; ebb; melt away, run dry, dry up.

Adjectives

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

Phrases

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