to waste time
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1.6
- phrasal verb
- /weɪst taɪm/
:
perder el tiempo
- She decided to stop wasting time and start focusing on her goals instead.
- waste time and money
- waste a lot of time
- waste time and energy
Just be sure you don't waste your time trying to explain it to them.
- Just be sure you don't waste your time trying to explain it to them.
- And in the meantime you are wasting time getting lost in the details.
- And if softball doesn't do that, then don't waste your time playing softball.
- Why should you be wasting your own time trying to chase your own money?
- And I would actually argue the risk of wasting time is far worse.
- And Uncle Joe wasted no time going after Donald Trump.
- But I don't waste any time arguing with reality.
- Because they don't like wasting their time with nonsense.
- So now you can waste your time and your money.
- I would, after film school, urge everyone to not waste time making short films.
- But if you allow this man to waste your time, he will waste it all right.
Examples
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Gentlemen, I see no point in wasting your valuable time.
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Find something you like instead of wasting your time following people you don't like.
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The secret of life is to waste time in ways that you like.
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Otherwise, why on earth would they waste their time on this, right?
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So now you can waste your time and your money.
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"Life was too short to waste time looking back," is what he said.
Fiction book (1990) -
I would, after film school, urge everyone to not waste time making short films.
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Well, what are we wasting time for?
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In our experience, random questions on a variety of topics waste time and achieve little.
Academic text (1994) -
Just be sure you don't waste your time trying to explain it to them.
Synonyms
888
1.5
Spend time without any activity
67
6.5
To use money, time, or chances in a foolish way
17
5.0
Move or act slowly and waste time, causing delay
5
7.9
To waste time by delaying when you should act
4
6.0
Waste time or money on small unimportant things
4
6.8
To waste small amounts of time, money, or energy little by little
3
6.3
Spend time waiting without making progress, doing unproductive things
2
8.6
To spend time doing very little and moving around without plans
2
7.9
To waste time and effort without making progress
1
9.2
To spend time doing small unimportant things instead of working
1
9.9
To spend time on small, unimportant tasks instead of getting things done
1
6.5
To spend time or money in a wasteful way
1
9.9
Spending time or effort on something that will not work
1
9.9
To waste time doing silly or lazy things instead of useful work
1
9.9
To waste time doing unimportant or silly things instead of doing something important
1
9.9
To waste time instead of doing something useful
To spend time on things that are not useful
To spend time idly on unimportant things
To waste time, money, or chances on things that do not matter
Spend time or money on unimportant things
To spend time doing small unimportant things with no real plan
To waste time doing small, unimportant things
To pass time by doing something not useful while you wait
To waste time on busy work and make no progress
To waste time instead of doing something useful
To waste time instead of working
Antonyms
How Productive
1
3.4
30
1.8
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1.6
17
5.0
- Informal
71
2.5
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to spend time on things that are not useful' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'waste' (to squander or use poorly) with 'time' (a span available for tasks). This verb+noun composition is frequent and follows predictable semantics cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily understand the expression.
Etymology
The phrase waste time comes from the simple image of throwing something away that you could have used. Imagine pouring water down a drain or throwing away food — to waste it is to lose it, so to waste time means to use time on things that are 'not useful or important'.