Meanings
present singular third person wastes away · participle present wasting away · participle past wasted away · past wasted away
- idiomaticTo lose energy or become weak and feeble.
She watched him waste away from lack of food or exercise.
1 more example
The perennial Arctic ice cap—the sea ice that persists through winter and summer—is wasting away. Over the past half century it has shrunk by more than a million square miles
2020 April, Elizabeth Kolbert, “Why we won't avoid a climate catastrophehttps://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2020/04/why-we-wont-avoid-a-climate-catastrophe-feature/”, in National GeographicSynonyms: wither
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo lose energy or become weak and feeble.
Translations
Ancient Greek μαραίνομαι
- μαραίνομαι (maraínomai)lose energy
Dutch wegkwijnen
- wegkwijnenlose energy
Esperanto atrofiiĝi
- atrofiiĝilose energy
Finnish kuihtua, riutua
- kuihtualose energy
- riutualose energy
French dépérir
- dépérirlose energy
German dahinsiechen
- dahinsiechenlose energy
Japanese やせ衰える
- やせ衰える (yaseotoroeru)lose energy
Latin tābeō, tabescō
- tābeōlose energy
- tabescōlose energy
Māori ngongo, horokiwa
- ngongolose energy
- horokiwalose energy
Polish marnieć, zmarnieć
- marniećlose energy
- zmarniećlose energy
- zatracać sięlose energy
- zatracić sięlose energy
Portuguese definhar
- definharlose energy
Russian ча́хнуть, зача́хнуть
- ча́хнуть (čáxnutʹ)lose energy
- зача́хнуть (začáxnutʹ)lose energy
- истоща́ться (istoščátʹsja)lose energy
- истощи́ться (istoščítʹsja)lose energy
Cite this entry
waste away. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/waste%20away
“waste away.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/waste%20away. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “waste away,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/waste%20away.
Source: waste away on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.