"wasting" in the noun sense
1. cachexia, cachexy, wasting
any general reduction in vitality and strength of body and mind resulting from a debilitating chronic disease
2. atrophy, wasting, wasting away
a decrease in size of an organ caused by disease or disuse
"wasting" in the verb sense
1. waste, blow, squander
spend thoughtlessly throw away
"He wasted his inheritance on his insincere friends"
"You squandered the opportunity to get and advanced degree"
2. waste
use inefficiently or inappropriately
"waste heat"
"waste a joke on an unappreciative audience"
3. waste
get rid of
"We waste the dirty water by channeling it into the sewer"
4. waste, run off
run off as waste
"The water wastes back into the ocean"
5. neutralize, neutralise, liquidate, waste, knock off, do in
get rid of (someone who may be a threat) by killing
"The mafia liquidated the informer"
"the double agent was neutralized"
6. consume, squander, waste, ware
spend extravagantly
"waste not, want not"
7. pine away, waste, languish
lose vigor, health, or flesh, as through grief
"After her husband died, she just pined away"
8. waste, emaciate, macerate
cause to grow thin or weak
"The treatment emaciated him"
9. lay waste to, waste, devastate, desolate, ravage, scourge
cause extensive destruction or ruin utterly
"The enemy lay waste to the countryside after the invasion"
10. waste, rot
become physically weaker
"Political prisoners are wasting away in many prisons all over the world"
Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)
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