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Waste vs Spurn - What's the difference?

waste | spurn |

As nouns the difference between waste and spurn

is that waste is a waste land; an uninhabited desolate region; a wilderness or desert while spurn is an act of spurning; a scornful rejection.

As verbs the difference between waste and spurn

is that waste is to devastate or destroy while spurn is (ambitransitive) to reject disdainfully; contemn; scorn.

As an adjective waste

is uncultivated, uninhabited.

waste

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) .

Noun

  • A waste land; an uninhabited desolate region; a wilderness or desert.
  • A place that has been laid waste or destroyed.
  • A large tract of uncultivated land.
  • A vast expanse of water.
  • A disused mine or part of one.
  • The action or progress of wasting; extravagant consumption or ineffectual use.
    • That was a waste of time
    Her life seemed a waste
  • Large abundance of something, specifically without it being used.
  • Gradual loss or decay.
  • A decaying of the body by disease; wasting away.
  • (rare) Destruction or devastation caused by war or natural disasters; See "to lay waste"
  • Excess of material, useless by-products or damaged, unsaleable products; garbage; rubbish.
  • Excrement
    • The cage was littered with animal waste
  • (legal) A cause of action which may be brought by the owner of a future interest in property against the current owner of that property to prevent the current owner from degrading the value or character of the property, either intentionally or through neglect.
    • Derived terms
    * ameliorative waste * cotton waste * industrial waste * lay waste * nuclear waste * permissive waste * radioactive waste * rock waste * silk waste * toxic waste * trade waste * voluntary waste * wasteful * wasteless * waste of space * waste of time * waste pipe * wasty

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) .

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Uncultivated, uninhabited.
  • *:
  • *:SOo whanne syr Galahad was departed from the castel of maydens / he rode tyl he came to a waste forest / & there he mette with syre launcelot and syr Percyuale but they knewe hym not / for he was newe desguysed / Ryghte so syr launcelot his fader dressid his spere and brake it vpon syr Galahad
  • Barren; desert.
  • *2009 , (Diarmaid MacCulloch), A History of Christianity , Penguin 2010, p. 255:
  • *:For centuries the shrine at Mecca had been of merely local importance, far outshone by the Temple of the Jews in Jerusalem, whose cult Christians had in good measure renewed by their pilgrimage in honour of Christ's crucifixion and resurrection, while leaving the actual site of the Jerusalem Temple dishonoured and waste .
  • Rejected as being defective; eliminated as being worthless; produced in excess.
  • *{{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=September-October, author= Katie L. Burke
    • , magazine=(American Scientist), title= In the News , passage=Oxygen levels on Earth skyrocketed 2.4 billion years ago, when cyanobacteria evolved photosynthesis: the ability to convert water and carbon dioxide into carbohydrates and waste oxygen using solar energy.}}
  • Superfluous; needless.
  • Dismal; gloomy; cheerless.
  • *Sir (Walter Scott) (1771-1832)
  • *:His heart became appalled as he gazed forward into the waste darkness of futurity.
  • Unfortunate; disappointing. (rfex)
    • Usage notes
    Same meanings as wasted.
    Derived terms
    * affirmative waste * ameliorative waste * go to waste * lay waste * lie waste * nonwasted * nonwasting * permissive waste * run to waste * unwasted * voluntary waste * waste pipe * wasteland * wasteness * wastrife

    Etymology 3

    From (etyl) .

    Verb

    (wast)
  • To devastate or destroy.
  • * Spenser
    • Thou barren ground, whom winter's wrath hath wasted , / Art made a mirror to behold my plight.
  • * Dryden
    • The Tiber / Insults our walls, and wastes our fruitful grounds.
  • To wear away by degrees; to impair gradually; to diminish by constant loss; to use up; to consume; to spend; to wear out.
  • * Bible, Numbers xiv. 33
    • until your carcasses be wasted in the wilderness
  • * Robertson
    • Wasted by such a course of life, the infirmities of age daily grew on him.
  • To squander (money or resources) uselessly; to spend (time) idly.
  • * Gray
    • Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, / And waste its sweetness on the desert air.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838
    • , page=13 (Technology Quarterly), magazine=(The Economist) , title= Ideas coming down the track , passage=A “moving platform” scheme
    E. Kay (1822-1897), afterwards Lord Justice of Appeal, had rooms on the same staircase as myself, and we wasted a great deal of time together, both in term and in my second summer vacation.'' 1909. Francis Galton, ''Memories of my life , p. 69.
  • (slang) To .
  • Gradually lose weight, weaken, become frail.
  • To be diminished; to lose bulk, substance, strength, value etc. gradually.
  • * Bible, 1 Kings xvii. 14
    • The barrel of meal shall not waste .
  • (legal) To damage, impair, or injure (an estate, etc.) voluntarily, or by allowing the buildings, fences, etc., to fall into decay.
    • Derived terms
    * get wasted * wastage * waste breath * waster * waste time * wastingly * wastery * wastethrift * wastrel * wasty

    See also

    *

    Anagrams

    * * * 1000 English basic words ----

    spurn

    English

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (ambitransitive) To reject disdainfully; contemn; scorn.
  • * Shakespeare
    • to spurn at your most royal image
  • * Shakespeare
    • What safe and nicely I might well delay / By rule of knighthood, I disdain and spurn .
  • * John Locke
    • Domestics will pay a more cheerful service when they find themselves not spurned because fortune has laid them at their master's feet.
  • To reject something by pushing it away with the foot.
  • * Shakespeare
    • I spurn thee like a cur out of my way.
  • To waste; fail to make the most of (an opportunity)
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2011 , date=September 28 , author=Tom Rostance , title=Arsenal 2 - 1 Olympiakos , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=Marouane Chamakh then spurned a great chance to kill the game off when he ran onto Andrey Arshavin's lofted through ball but shanked his shot horribly across the face of goal.}}
  • (obsolete) To kick or toss up the heels.
  • * Chaucer
    • The miller spurned at a stone.
  • * Gay
    • The drunken chairman in the kennel spurns .

    Derived terms

    * spurner

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An act of spurning; a scornful rejection.
  • A kick; a blow with the foot.
  • * Milton
    • What defence can properly be used in such a despicable encounter as this but either the slap or the spurn ?
  • (obsolete) Disdainful rejection; contemptuous treatment.
  • * Shakespeare
    • The insolence of office and the spurns / That patient merit of the unworthy takes.
  • A body of coal left to sustain an overhanging mass.