Meanings
comparative more wasteful · superlative most wasteful
- Inclined to waste or squander money or resources.
As a narrative, competition of the type seen between the London Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS) and the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER) was seen as wasteful, with duplicate routes reflecting an unnecessary use of resources.
2023 March 8, 'Industry Insider', “The Beeching legacy”, in RAIL, number 978, page 68Synonyms: prodigal, profligate, extravagant, improvident, imprudent, lavish, loose-handed, prodigal · Antonyms: unwasteful
- obsoleteUninhabited, desolate.
Shortly vnto the vvaſtefull vvoods ſhe came, / VVhereas ſhe found the Goddeſſe vvith her crevv, […]
1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 17, page 482Synonyms: deserted, peopleless, beingless, desert, deserted, howling, desolate, disinhabited
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveInclined to waste or squander money or resources.
adjectiveUninhabited, desolate.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectiveinefficient in use of time and effort and materials
adjectivetending to squander and waste
adjectivelaying waste
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Englishwastful
- Englishwasteful
From Middle English wastful; equivalent to waste + -ful.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian разточителен, прахоснически
- разточителен (raztočitelen)inclined to waste
- прахоснически (prahosničeski)inclined to waste
Chinese Mandarin 浪費 /浪费
- 浪費 /浪费 (làngfèi)inclined to waste
Dutch spilziek, kwistig
- spilziekinclined to waste
- kwistiginclined to waste
Finnish tuhlaava
- tuhlaavainclined to waste
French dépensier, gaspilleur
- dépensierinclined to waste
- gaspilleurinclined to waste
- dilapidateurinclined to waste
German verschwenderisch
- verschwenderischinclined to waste
Irish caifeach, caiteach
- caifeachinclined to waste
- caiteachinclined to waste
- diomailteachinclined to waste
- drabhlásachinclined to waste
- scabáistiúilinclined to waste
- vástúilinclined to waste
Italian prodigo
- prodigoinclined to waste
Japanese 不経済な
- 不経済な (fukeizai na)inclined to waste
Latin prōdigus
- prōdigusinclined to waste
Māori tōtōa, ngutuhore
- tōtōainclined to waste
- ngutuhoreinclined to waste
Polish rozrzutny
- rozrzutnyinclined to waste
Portuguese desperdiçador
- desperdiçadorinclined to waste
Romanian risipitor
- risipitorinclined to waste
Russian расточи́тельный
- расточи́тельный (rastočítelʹnyj)inclined to waste
Spanish derrochador, despilfarrador
- derrochadorinclined to waste
- despilfarradorinclined to waste
- malgastadorinclined to waste
- manirrotoinclined to waste
- botarateinclined to waste
Swedish slösaktig
- slösaktiginclined to waste
Turkish hesapsız, idaresiz
- hesapsızinclined to waste
- idaresizinclined to waste
- müsrifinclined to waste
- savrukinclined to waste
- savurganinclined to waste
- tutumsuzinclined to waste
Ukrainian марнотратний, розтратливий
- марнотратний (marnotratnyj)inclined to waste
- розтратливий (roztratlyvyj)inclined to waste
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with wasteful
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
wasteful. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wasteful
“wasteful.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wasteful. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “wasteful,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wasteful.
Source: wasteful on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.