different between wreck vs waste

English

Etymology

From Middle English wrek, from Anglo-Norman wrek, from Old Norse *wrek (Norwegian and Icelandic rek, Swedish vrak), from Proto-Germanic *wrekan?, whence also Old English wrecan (English wreak), Old High German rehhan, Old Saxon wrekan, Gothic ???????????????????????? (wrikan).

Pronunciation

• enPR: r?k, IPA^(key): /???k/
• Rhymes: -?k

Noun

wreck (plural wrecks)

1. Something or someone that has been ruined.

   He was an emotional wreck after the death of his wife.

   Synonym: basket case, mess

2. The remains of something that has been severely damaged or worn down.
   • 1779, William Cowper, Retirement

     To the fair haven of my native home, / The wreck of what I was, fatigued I come.

3. An event in which something is damaged through collision.

   • the wrecks of matter and the crush of worlds

   • Hard and obstinate / As is a rock amidst the raging floods, / 'Gainst which a ship, of succour desolate, / Doth suffer wreck, both of herself and goods.

   • 1883, John Richard Green, The Conquest of England

     Its intellectual life was thus able to go on amidst the wreck of its political life.

4. (law) Goods, etc. cast ashore by the sea after a shipwreck.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Bouvier to this entry?)

Synonyms

• crash
• ruins

Derived terms

• catch wreck
• shipwreck
• train wreck

Translations

Verb

wreck (third-person singular simple present wrecks, present participle wrecking, simple past and past participle wrecked)

1. To destroy violently; to cause severe damage to something, to a point where it no longer works, or is useless.

   He wrecked the car in a collision.

   That adulterous hussy wrecked my marriage!

2. To ruin or dilapidate.
3. (Australia) To dismantle wrecked vehicles or other objects, to reclaim any useful parts.
4. To involve in a wreck; hence, to cause to suffer ruin; to balk of success, and bring disaster on.

   • Weak and envy'd, if they should conspire, / They wreck themselves, and he hath his Desire.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:destroy

Antonyms

• build
• construct
• make
• produce

Derived terms

• bewreck
• wrecker
• wreckage

Translations

References

Yola

Noun

wreck

1. Alternative form of rocke

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: w?st, IPA^(key): /we?st/
• Rhymes: -e?st
• Homophone: waist

Etymology 1

From Middle English waste (“a waste”, noun), from Anglo-Norman, Old Northern French wast, waste (“a waste”), from Frankish *w?st? (“a waste”), from Proto-Indo-European *h?weh?- (“empty, wasted”).

Noun

waste (countable and uncountable, plural wastes)

1. Excess of material, useless by-products or damaged, unsaleable products; garbage; rubbish.
2. Excrement or urine.

   The cage was littered with animal waste

3. A waste land; an uninhabited desolate region; a wilderness or desert.
4. A place that has been laid waste or destroyed.
5. A large tract of uncultivated land.
6. (historical) The part of the land of a manor (of whatever size) not used for cultivation or grazing, nowadays treated as common land.
7. A vast expanse of water.
8. A disused mine or part of one.
9. The action or progress of wasting; extravagant consumption or ineffectual use.

   That was a waste of time

   Her life seemed a waste

10. Large abundance of something, specifically without it being used.
11. Gradual loss or decay.
12. A decaying of the body by disease; wasting away.
13. (rare) Destruction or devastation caused by war or natural disasters; See "to lay waste"
14. (law) 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.
15. (geology) Material derived by mechanical and chemical erosion from the land, carried by streams to the sea.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English waste (“waste”, adjective), from Anglo-Norman, Old Northern French wast (“waste”), from Frankish *w?st? (“waste, empty”), from Proto-Indo-European *w?sto- (“empty, wasted”). Cognate with Old High German wuosti, wuasti (“waste, empty”), Old Saxon w?sti (“desolate”), Old English w?ste (“waste, barren, desolate, empty”).

Adjective

waste (comparative more waste, superlative most waste)

1. (now rare) Uncultivated, uninhabited.
2. Barren; desert.
   • 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin 2010, page 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.

3. Rejected as being defective; eliminated as being worthless; produced in excess.
4. Superfluous; needless.
5. Dismal; gloomy; cheerless.
6. Unfortunate; disappointing. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Usage notes

Same meanings as wasted.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 3

From Middle English wasten (“to waste, lay waste”), from Anglo-Norman, Old Northern French waster (“to waste, devastate”) (compare also the variant gaster and French gâter from a related Old French word); the Anglo-Norman form waster was either from Frankish *w?stijan (“to waste”), from Proto-Indo-European *w?sto- (“empty, wasted”), or alternatively from Latin vast?re, present active infinitive of vast? and influenced by the Frankish; the English word was assisted by similarity to native Middle English westen ("to waste"; > English weest). Cognate with Old High German wuostan, wuastan, wuostjan (“to waste”) (Modern German wüsten), Old English w?stan (“to lay waste, ravage”).

Verb

waste (third-person singular simple present wastes, present participle wasting, simple past and past participle wasted)

1. (transitive) to devastate, destroy

   • Thou barrein ground, whome winters wrath hath wasted, / Art made a myrrour to behold my plight.

   • The Tiber / Insults our walls, and wastes our fruitful grounds.

2. (transitive) To squander (money or resources) uselessly; to spend (time) idly.
   • 1751, Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard

     Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, / And waste its sweetness on the desert air.

   • 1909, Francis Galton, Memories of my life, page 69

     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. .

3. (transitive, slang) To kill; to murder.
4. (transitive) To wear away by degrees; to impair gradually; to diminish by constant loss; to use up; to consume; to spend; to wear out.

   • until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness

   • 1769, William Robertson, History of the Reign of the Emperor Charles V

     Wasted by such a course of life, the infirmities of age daily grew on him.

5. (intransitive) Gradually lose weight, weaken, become frail.
6. (intransitive) To be diminished; to lose bulk, substance, strength, value etc. gradually.

   • The barrel of meal shall not waste.

7. (law) To damage, impair, or injure (an estate, etc.) voluntarily, or by allowing the buildings, fences, etc., to fall into decay.

Derived terms

Synonyms

• (slang, to kill or murder): cack, top, duppy (see also Thesaurus:kill)

Translations

See also

• Waste on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• waste in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Anagrams

• Sweat, Weast, swate, sweat, tawse, wetas

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???s.t?/

Verb

waste

1. singular past indicative and subjunctive of wassen

Tocharian B

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

waste ?

1. refuge, sanctuary

West Flemish

Noun

waste f

1. laundry, clothes that need to be washed, or just have been washed.