Meanings
- uncountableNuclear waste.
1 more example
The water is first filtered and processed to eliminate as much as possible substances that might become radioactive. After going through the reactor, it is held in basins until the radioactivity of the remaining impurities dies down and then is released. The water is still carrying some "hot garbage," but not very much.
1955 April, Rafe Gibbs, Popular Mechanics, volume 103, number 4, Hearst Magazines, page 250 - derogatoryidiomaticslanguncountableAnything that is extremely bad, low-quality, or worthless.
It wasn't a big deal for some people who were lucky enough to have regular-smelling feet, but Rusty had been born with foot-odor complications, which caused certain people to gag when he entered the room, or to ask him why his feet smelled like hot garbage.
2013, Brady Udall, The Lonely Polygamist, Random House, →ISBN, page 109
Origin
From hot (“radioactive”) + garbage (“waste”). Originally a term for radioactive materials, it evolved as a descriptor for anything highly undesirable.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
hot garbage. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hot%20garbage
“hot garbage.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hot%20garbage. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hot garbage,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hot%20garbage.
Source: hot garbage on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.