waste of skin
2
9.9
- noun
- Offensive
- What a pustulent, vile, porcine waste of skin this "man"
Examples
-
Building up your wrestling credentials only to have you start having feelings again for some pathetic little waste of skin.
-
Much love and admiration to those of you who can take the high road, but I've got no sympathy for this waste of skin.
Blog text (13) -
What a waste of skin.
Blog text (11) -
You are a waste of skin that belongs on the front page of every newspaper.
-
Ghetto stick Al is a waste of skin.
Blog text (11) -
He is a waste of skin.
Blog text (34) -
The bully called him a waste of skin because he was too afraid to stand up for himself.
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In her opinion, that corrupt politician was just a waste of skin who only cared about money.
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Many people believe that anyone who harms others for personal gain is a waste of skin.
Synonyms
328
9.9
A person or thing that is very bad and has no value used to insult someone
225
7.4
People who are treated as worthless or unimportant
74
9.6
A rude word for a person or thing that is very bad and not worth anything
22
1.7
A thing that is useless and not worth keeping
16
4.7
Something thought to be worthless or of very low quality
2
9.9
A thing that is of very poor quality and not worth the money
1
9.9
A person who is very unpleasant and treats others badly
1
9.2
An insulting word for a person who is dishonest or behaves badly
1
9.9
Someone or something people treat as worthless and easily defeated
1
8.4
Someone or something people see as weak and not important
1
9.9
A rude word used to call someone a worthless person
1
9.9
A rude word for a person who lies or cheats
1
9.9
A person who acts badly and cannot be trusted
1
8.4
People or ideas others use as unimportant material
1
9.9
A dishonest person who cheats or lies to others
1
8.8
A person people see as useless and as wasting resources by just living
1
9.6
A person others think is useless and not successful
A very rude word people use for someone they think is very bad or disgusting
A person who does little work and is not useful
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase uses the productive pattern 'waste of X', which cues that the referent is useless, so a B1 learner knowing 'waste' and 'skin' could plausibly infer it’s an insulting label for a person. However, the choice of 'skin' is metaphorical and culturally marked (not a typical referent like 'space'), so the exact insulting meaning is not fully predictable without prior exposure.
Etymology
Waste of skin may come from a strong picture of a person who is only skin and seen as waste, like useless trash; the image is meant to show there is nothing valuable underneath. That's why the phrase is used to call someone 'utterly worthless'.