wasted

1. 1
   adjective

   Not put to profitable or productive use.

   The committee saw the long delay as wasted time and money.

   Years of wasted potential left him bitter about the chances he missed.

   Similarsquandered, misspent

   Oppositeproductive, useful, profitable, fruitful

2. 2
   adjectiveslang

   Heavily intoxicated by alcohol or drugs.

   They were too wasted to remember how the night ended.

   She showed up to work still wasted from the night before.

   Similarblitzed, bombed, besotted, blasted, boozy

   Oppositesober

   Note

   Party slang that covers alcohol and drugs alike, which drunk alone does not. Steve Winwood's "Can't Find My Way Home" (1969), performed by Blind Faith, already uses it. In Kenneth Lonergan's Manchester by the Sea (2016), Lee Chandler walks rather than drives because he was "really wasted." The word signals real impairment, not mild tipsiness. Context separates it from the exhausted meaning.

3. 3
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of waste.

   The drought wasted acres of crops before the rains returned.

   He has wasted every opportunity he was given.

   Note

   A regular -ed form serving as both past tense and past participle. Because waste is transitive and intransitive, the form works both ways. Time and money are wasted by someone, which is the passive. A sick body simply wasted over months, which is the intransitive past. Most adjective senses are this participle hardened into a description, from the squandered sense to the emaciated one.

4. 4
   adjective

   Ravaged or worn down into ruin and decay.

   The travelers crossed a wasted landscape stripped bare by years of drought.

   Centuries of neglect had reduced the abbey to a wasted shell.

   Similarravaged, damaged, dilapidated, wrecked, worn-out

   Oppositeflourishing, thriving, lush, pristine

5. 5
   adjectiveslang

   Extremely tired and drained of energy.

   By the final mile of the marathon she felt utterly wasted.

   Three nights without sleep left him wasted and unable to focus.

   Similarexhausted, drained, spent, beat, shattered

   Oppositeenergized, rested, fresh

   Note

   Slang uses it for the deep tiredness of hard physical effort. In Lee Swislow's "Amazon Trekking" (1982), a hiker climbing through snow is asked how she is doing and manages only "pretty wasted." The same word also means heavily intoxicated, so it can mislead. Let the setting carry the meaning, as a steep climb does here. Because it is slang, keep it out of formal writing.

6. 6
   adjective

   Thin and gaunt from illness, hunger, or prolonged suffering.

   The prisoners emerged wasted and hollow-eyed after months of captivity.

   A long fever had left her wasted, her cheeks deeply sunken.

   Similarfrail, feeble, debilitated, exhausted, enfeebled

   Oppositehealthy, robust, plump, well-fed

7. 7
   adjective

   Having low weight relative to height, typically as a sign of acute malnutrition.

   Aid workers found that nearly a third of the children were wasted.

   A wasted patient may need careful refeeding to avoid serious complications.

   Similarunderweight

   Oppositeoverweight, obese

   Note

   Clinicians use it as a measurement rather than a description of appearance. It compares a person's weight with their height, not weight on its own terms. Underweight is its nearest everyday equivalent. In this use the word is neutral and diagnostic, quite unlike the gaunt, haggard meaning, which describes how a sufferer looks.

Showing meanings only. Show all 7