# discard

Pronunciation: US say "dis-KARD" /dɪsˈkɑɹd/; UK say "dis-KAHD" /dɪsˈkɑːd/

## Verb

1. To throw something away or reject it as useless or unwanted.
   - Simple: To throw something away because you no longer want or need it.
   - _The factory discards any parts that fail inspection._
   - _Editors often discard entire drafts before settling on a final version._
4. To throw out a card from one's hand during play, making a discard.
   - Simple: To put down a card you do not want during a card game.
   - _If you cannot meld, you must discard before play passes on._
   - _She discarded, and the next player immediately drew._
5. To dismiss someone from a job, or to cast them out of one's trust or favor.
   - Simple: To remove someone from a job, or to stop trusting or liking them.
   - _He felt the team had discarded him once his usefulness faded._
   - _Powerful patrons can discard a protégé the instant scandal appears._

## Noun

Pronunciation: US say "DIS-kard" /ˈdɪskɑɹd/; UK say "DIS-kahd" /ˈdɪskɑːd/

2. Something thrown out or rejected as useless or no longer wanted.
   - Simple: Something that has been thrown away or rejected.
   - _Most of the discards ended up in the recycling bin._
   - _He treated the worn jacket as a discard and gave it away._
3. A playing card thrown out or set aside by a player during a card game.
   - Simple: A playing card that a player throws out during a card game.
   - _A clever player watches every discard for clues about an opponent's hand._
   - _The discards stacked up face-up beside the deck._
6. In programming, a throwaway variable that takes in an unwanted value and cannot be read afterward.
   - Simple: In computer code, a place to put a value that the program will not use again.
   - _She assigned the unused result to a discard rather than giving it a name._
   - _Pattern matching lets you route fields you don't need into discards._

## Origin

Formed from the prefix dis- and card; compare Spanish descartar.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/discard (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).