wasteful Definition
waste·ful (wāst′fəl)
adjective
using more than is necessary; extravagant
wasteful Related Forms
wasteful Synonyms
wasteful
modif.
Antonyms
wasteful Usage Examples
Modifies a noun
- duplication: Evidence suggests that the desire for autonomy is leading to wasteful duplication.
- bureaucracy: A fascinating insight into the wasteful bureaucracy of Quangos.
- spending: The Party has launched a review of public spending, under David James, which aims to identify wasteful spending across the public sector.
- packaging: The Institute for Public Policy Research says such a tax would force firms to cut down on wasteful packaging.
- consumption: Second, we can reduce inputs of carbon dioxide by reducing wasteful energy consumption.
- expenditure: Budget reform must reduce wasteful expenditure in favor of a rigorous selection of priorities.
Modifying Another Word
- incredibly: It is incredibly wasteful in society to have something like three million children growing up in poverty.
- hugely: The sums at the disposal of the United Nations are vast, and the way it spends them often hugely wasteful.
- extremely: Secondly, he argues that the NHS is extremely wasteful.
- somewhat: In a broadcast mode, data would be transmitted to everyone within a certain range, which is somewhat wasteful of precious bandwidth.
- particularly: It is particularly wasteful to leave upstairs bedroom doors open all day during the heating season.
- too: Looked knackered from the start, and too wasteful with the ball.
Infinitive complement
have: It is terribly wasteful to have a television on serving as a clock.
Used with adjective complement
seem: Schemes involving part boxing and part pounding of the catch seems wasteful of space.
Preposition: in
- term: Failing to recognize your best time can actually be wasteful in terms of our productivity.
- front: Unlike the previous game, Scotland were able to create more goalscoring opportunities, but were wasteful in front of Andy Halpin's goal.
Preposition: of
- resource: Failure to address whole system issues is wasteful of public resources.
- time: However for most species, erratic germination and predation by birds and animals means this method is wasteful of time and space.
- space: Schemes involving part boxing and part pounding of the catch seems wasteful of space.
- material: Manipulation of images can be quicker and much less wasteful of materials.
Browse dictionary entries near wasteful
- ‹ wasted
- ‹ wastebasket
- ‹ waste time
- ‹ waste pipe
- ‹ waste
- ‹ wastage
- ‹ wast
- ‹ Wassermann
- ‹ wassail
- ‹ waspy
- wastefully ›
- wasteland ›
- wastepaper ›
- waster ›
- wastewater ›
- wasting ›
- wasting property ›
- wastrel ›
- wat ›
- watch ›

