What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Water vs Waste - What's the difference?

water | waste |

As verbs the difference between water and waste

is that water is to pour water into the soil surrounding (plants) while waste is .

As a noun water

is (uncountable) a chemical, found at room temperature and pressure as a clear liquid, having the formula h₂o, required by all forms of life on earth.

water

Noun

  • (uncountable) A chemical, found at room temperature and pressure as a clear liquid, having the formula H?O, required by all forms of life on Earth.
  • * {{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.}}
  • # (uncountable, in particular) The liquid form of this chemical; liquid H?O.
  • #* 1835 , Sir , Sir (James Clark Ross), Narrative of a Second Voyage in Search of a North-west Passage …, Volume 1 , pp.284-5
  • Towards the following morning, the thermometer fell to 5°; and at daylight, there was not an atom of water to be seen in any direction.
  • #* 2002 , Arthur T. Hubbard, Encyclopedia of Surface and Colloid Science (ISBN 0824707966), page 4895:
  • A water' drop placed on the surface of ice can either spread or form a lens depending on the properties of the three phases involved in wetting, i.e., on the properties of the ice, ' water , and gas phases.
  • #* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-05-11, volume=407, issue=8835, page=80, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= The climate of Tibet: Pole-land , passage=Of all the transitions brought about on the Earth’s surface by temperature change, the melting of ice into water is the starkest. It is binary. And for the land beneath, the air above and the life around, it changes everything.}}
  • # (countable) A serving of water.
  • #*
  • (obsolete) Ancient philosophy.
  • # (alchemy) One of the four basic elements.
  • # One of the five basic elements (see ).
  • (often, in the plural) Any body of water, or a specific part of it.
  • *
  • *
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage='Twas early June, the new grass was flourishing everywheres, the posies in the yard—peonies and such—in full bloom, the sun was shining, and the water of the bay was blue, with light green streaks where the shoal showed.}}
  • A combination of water and other substance(s).
  • # (sometimes, countable) Mineral water.
  • # (countable, often, in the plural) Spa water.
  • # (pharmacy) A solution in water of a gaseous or readily volatile substance.
  • # Urine.
  • #*
  • # Amniotic fluid; used in the plural in the UK and in singular in North America.
  • (UK)
  • (North America)
  • # (colloquial, medicine) Fluids in the body, especially when causing swelling.
  • (figuratively, in the plural, or, in the singular) A state of affairs; conditions; usually with an adjective indicating an adverse condition.
  • (colloquial, figuratively) A person's intuition.
  • (uncountable, dated, finance) Excess valuation of securities.
  • *
  • *
  • The limpidity and lustre of a precious stone, especially a diamond.
  • A wavy, lustrous pattern or decoration such as is imparted to linen, silk, metals, etc.
  • Synonyms

    * See also * See also

    Antonyms

    * ice, steam, water vapor/water vapour * (basic elements) earth, air/wind, fire; wood, metal; void/ether

    Hypernyms

    * chemical, substance * liquid, fluid * (basic elements) element * (urine) body fluid, bodily fluid, biofluid

    Hyponyms

    * heavy water; ice, steam, water vapor/water vapour * mineral water; hard water, soft water

    Meronyms

    * hydrogen, oxygen

    Derived terms

    * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

    Descendants

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To pour water into the soil surrounding (plants).
  • *
  • To wet or supply with water; to moisten; to overflow with water; to irrigate.
  • * Milton
  • tears watering the ground
  • * Longfellow
  • Men whose lives glided on like rivers that water the woodlands.
  • To provide (animals) with water for drinking.
  • I need to go water the cattle .
  • To get or take in water.
  • The ship put into port to water .
  • (colloquial) To urinate onto.
  • Nature called, so I stepped into the woods and watered a tree.
  • To dilute.
  • Can you water the whisky, please?
  • (transitive, dated, finance) To overvalue (securities), especially through deceptive accounting.
  • *
  • To fill with or secrete water.
  • Chopping onions makes my eyes water .
    The smell of fried onions makes my mouth water .
  • To wet and calender, as cloth, so as to impart to it a lustrous appearance in wavy lines; to diversify with wavelike lines.
  • to water silk

    Synonyms

    * (urinate) (see the list of synonyms in the entry "urinate") * (dilute) water down

    Antonyms

    * (dilute) refine

    Derived terms

    * * * * * * * * * * * * *

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    *

    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 ----