Meanings
present singular third person discards · participle present discarding · participle past discarded · past discarded
- transitiveTo throw away, to reject.
A man discards the follies of boyhood.
1832, [Isaac Taylor], Saturday Evening. […], London: Holdsworth and Ball, →OCLC1 more example
My next stop is Oxford, which has also grown with the addition of new platforms to accommodate the Chiltern Railways service to London via Bicester - although, short sightedly, the planned electrification from Paddington was canned. Evidence of the volte-face can be seen along the line at places such as Radley, where mast piles are already sunk or lie discarded at the lineside.
2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, pages 67–68Synonyms: cast aside, cast away, dismiss, jettison, dispose of, eliminate, get rid of, throw aside
- To dismiss from employment, confidence, or favour; to discharge.
[…] They blame the Favourites in point of Policy, and think it nothing extraordinary, that the Queen ſhould be at an end of Her Patience, and reſolve to diſcard them.
1711 December 8 (Gregorian calendar), [Jonathan Swift], The Conduct of the Allies, and of the Late Ministry, in Beginning and Carrying on the Present War, 4th edition, London: […] John Morphew […], published 1711, →OCLC, page 65Synonyms: fire, let go, sack, axe, can, decruit, dehire, remove
plural discards
- Anything discarded.
- One or more discarded playing cards in a card game.
"Stroll across and see how the game is going," suggested Carrados. "Have a look at Crediton's discard and then come back."
1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards, →OCLC - The act of discarding.
Spinola was hovering about the external fittings of the figure with unusual fussiness. When at length he released the left hand it seemed for an almost perceptible moment that the action hung. Then the arm descended and carried out the discard.
1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards, →OCLC - computingA temporary variable used to receive a value of no importance and unable to be read later.
Discards can be used with out parameters, with tuples, with pattern matching (Chapters 6 and 8), or even as stand-alone variables.
2017, Andrew Troelsen, Philip Japikse, Pro C# 7: With .NET and .NET Core, page 120
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo throw away, to reject.
verbTo dismiss from employment, confidence, or favour; to discharge.
More synonyms by meaning
noungetting rid of something that is regarded as useless or undesirable
verbthrow or cast away
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From dis- + card. Compare Spanish descartar.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans weggooi
- weggooito throw away, reject
Ancient Greek ἀποβάλλω
- ἀποβάλλω (apobállō)to throw away, reject
Basque baztertu
- baztertuto throw away, reject
Bulgarian захвърлям, изхвърлям
- захвърлям (zahvărljam)to throw away, reject
- изхвърлям (izhvărljam)to throw away, reject
- чистя (čistja)to throw out a playing card
- захвърляне (zahvărljane)anything discarded
- изоставяне (izostavjane)anything discarded
- изчистена карта (izčistena karta)discarded playing card
Chinese Mandarin 丟棄 /丢弃, 拋棄 /抛弃
- 丟棄 /丢弃 (diūqì)to throw away, reject
- 拋棄 /抛弃 (pāoqì)to throw away, reject
Czech odhodit
- odhoditto throw away, reject
Danish kassere, kassation
- kassereto throw away, reject
- kassationanything discarded
Dutch verwerpen, afdanken
- verwerpento throw away, reject
- afdankento throw away, reject
- afleggento throw away, reject
- opzijzettento throw away, reject
Finnish hylätä, heittää menemään
- hylätäto throw away, reject
- heittää menemäänto throw away, reject
- heittää poisto throw away, reject
- hävittääto throw away, reject
- poistaato throw out a playing card
- poistaa kädestäto throw out a playing card
- laskea poisto throw out a playing card
- heittää poisto throw out a playing card
- hylkyanything discarded
- hylkytavaraanything discarded
- jäteanything discarded
- pois heitetty korttidiscarded playing card
French rejeter, écarter
- rejeterto throw away, reject
- écarterto throw away, reject
- défausserto throw out a playing card
German verwerfen, abwerfen
- verwerfento throw away, reject
- abwerfento throw out a playing card
- ablegento throw out a playing card
Greek απορρίπτω, παραμερίζω
- απορρίπτω (aporrípto)to throw away, reject
- παραμερίζω (paramerízo)to throw away, reject
- ανατινάζω (anatinázo)to throw away, reject
- πετώ (petó)to throw out a playing card
Hungarian elvet
- elvetto throw away, reject
Italian scartare
- scartareto throw out a playing card
Japanese 捨てる, 棄てる
- 捨てる (suteru)to throw away, reject
- 棄てる (suteru)to throw away, reject
- 廃棄物 (haikibutsu)anything discarded
- 捨て札 (sutefuda)discarded playing card
Korean 버리다
- 버리다 (beorida)to throw away, reject
Latin rejiciō, abicio
- rejiciōto throw away, reject
- abicioto throw away, reject
Māori whakarei, ākiri
- whakareito throw away, reject
- ākirito throw away, reject
- paetauto throw away, reject
- hoehoeto throw away, reject
- ruketo throw away, reject
- parurangaanything discarded
Polish zrzucić
- zrzucićto throw away, reject
Portuguese descartar
- descartarto throw away, reject
Romanian arunca
- aruncato throw away, reject
Russian отбра́сывать, отбро́сить
- отбра́сывать (otbrásyvatʹ)to throw away, reject
- отбро́сить (otbrósitʹ)to throw away, reject
- выбра́сывать (vybrásyvatʹ)to throw away, reject
- вы́бросить (výbrositʹ)to throw away, reject
- отхо́ды (otxódy)anything discarded
- сбро́шенная ка́рта (sbróšennaja kárta)discarded playing card
Slovak odhodiť, zahodiť
- odhodiťto throw away, reject
- zahodiťto throw away, reject
- vyhodiťto throw away, reject
Spanish desechar, descartar
- desecharto throw away, reject
- descartarto throw away, reject
Swedish kasta, avfärda
- kastato throw away, reject
- avfärdato throw away, reject
- slängato throw away, reject
- nekato throw away, reject
- slopato throw away, reject
- kastato throw out a playing card
- bortkastadanything discarded
Ukrainian відкидати, відмовлятися
- відкидати (vidkydaty)to throw away, reject
- відмовлятися (vidmovljatysja)to throw away, reject
Vietnamese vứt, loại bỏ
- vứtto throw away, reject
- loại bỏto throw away, reject
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with discard
Cite this entry
discard. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/discard
“discard.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/discard. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “discard,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/discard.
Source: discard on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.