wasteful

English

Etymology

From Middle English wastful; equivalent to waste +‎ -ful.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈweɪstfəl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪstfəl

Adjective

wasteful (comparative more wasteful, superlative most wasteful)

1. Inclined to waste or squander money or resources.
   • 2023 March 8, 'Industry Insider', “The Beeching legacy”, in RAIL, number 978, page 68:

     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.

1. Synonyms: prodigal, profligate

   Antonym: unwasteful

2. (obsolete) Uninhabited, desolate.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 17, page 482:

     Shortly vnto the vvaſtefull vvoods ſhe came, / VVhereas ſhe found the Goddeſſe vvith her crevv, […]

Translations

inclined to waste

• Azerbaijani: bədxərc, israfcıl
• Bulgarian: разточителен (bg) (raztočitelen), прахоснически (prahosničeski)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 浪費／浪费 (zh) (làngfèi)

• Dutch: verspillend (nl), verkwistend (nl)
• Finnish: tuhlaava (fi)
• French: dépensier (fr), gaspilleur (fr), dilapidateur (fr)
• German: verschwenderisch (de)
• Irish: caifeach, caiteach, diomailteach, drabhlásach, scabáistiúil, vástúil

  Old Irish: díblásach, dimbailech, dombuilech

• Italian: prodigo (it)
• Japanese: 不経済な (fukeizai na)
• Latin: prōdigus
• Maori: tōtōa, ngutuhore
• Polish: rozrzutny (pl)
• Portuguese: desperdiçador
• Romanian: risipitor (ro)
• Russian: расточи́тельный (ru) (rastočítelʹnyj)
• Spanish: derrochador (es), antieconómico (es)
• Swedish: slösaktig (sv)
• Ukrainian: марнотратний m (marnotratnyj), розтратливий m (roztratlyvyj)

Anagrams

• awfulest, sweatful