Wasting

How to spell wasting

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce wasting

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does wasting mean?

1. verbUsing something valuable carelessly or to no good purpose.
2. adjectiveDescribing a gradual loss of body tissue, strength, or condition.

Wasting in a sentence

• verb

  He felt he was wasting money on subscriptions he never used.

• adjective

  The wasting disease of the herd was studied closely by veterinary researchers.

• verb

  Wasting time on endless meetings frustrated the whole team.

• adjective

  Doctors monitored the wasting effect of the condition on her limbs.

Where does wasting come from?

Language of origin: French

This is the present participle of the verb 'waste', which entered English in the early 1200s from Anglo-Norman and Old North French 'waster', meaning to ravage, to lay waste, or to squander. That French form descends from the Latin 'vastare', 'to lay waste', and the related adjective 'vastus', meaning 'empty, desolate, or vast'. The same Latin root is the ancestor of the modern word 'vast', so the idea of emptiness sits behind both. Over the centuries the harsher military sense of 'destroying land' softened into the everyday meaning of using something up carelessly or letting it dwindle away. The 'w' at the front reflects the Norman French spelling, where Latin 'v' was pronounced and written with a 'w' sound, and that is why the modern word looks so different from its cousin 'vast'.

How the word is built

• waste (squander, use carelessly)
• -ing (present participle / gerund suffix)