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Glite Dictionary
to throw money away

to throw money away

4 3.5
Spend money on things you do not need
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : malgastar
  • Many people feel that buying lottery tickets is just throwing money away.
  • just throw money away

I thought Anthony was just throwing money away buying graphics cards on Aliexpress.

Examples

  • Seeing food wasted is something I find so difficult because it's essentially throwing money away.

    Blog text (23)

  • I could sell it for $100,000 on the open market, but that would be throwing money away.

    The Asphalt Jungle (1950)

  • Yeah, but it's throwing money away.

    Last Vegas (2013)

  • Anybody who thinks we're throwing money away is wrong.

    Academic text (1994)

  • Parents need to start taking a stand and stop throwing money away.

    Blog text (8)

  • You know, I'm not the kind of guy that wants to throw money away.

    Arbitrage (2012)

  • Amazon and Apple are just throwing money away when they sell at a loss.

    Blog text (11)

  • We see this as throwing money away since it never gets applied to actually paying off the loan.

    Blog text (24)

  • They just throw money away.

    The Tiger Hunter (2017)

  • At a time when District 428 is running a $2.3 million deficit, they don't have the luxury of throwing money away.

    Blog text (18)

Synonyms

to waste
vsto throw money away
∞ 1.0

To use or spend something carelessly and without good reason

focuses specifically on spending money on unnecessary or worthless items
to blow
vsto throw money away
  • Informal
265 5.3

To waste a lot of money on things you do not need

is often wasteful spending without benefit not only impulsive loss
to squander
vsto throw money away
67 6.5

To use money, time, or chances in a foolish way

is less about reckless disregard and more about buying unneeded things
to run through
vsto throw money away
16 4.4

Use up money or supplies quickly and wastefully

is about wasteful spending not necessarily rapid consumption
to piss away
vsto throw money away
  • Offensive
8 9.5

To waste time or money by being careless

is more neutral and describes spending on unnecessary or worthless items
to fritter away
vsto throw money away
4 6.0

Waste time or money on small unimportant things

is about larger or single wasteful purchases rather than gradual losses
to misspend
vsto throw money away
1 6.5

To spend time or money in a wasteful way

is specific to spending money wastefully rather than other resources
to blow savings
vsto throw money away
  • Informal
1 6.9

To spend saved money quickly on things you do not need

is general spending on unnecessary items not limited to savings alone
to blow one's wad
vsto throw money away
  • Informal
9.9

To spend all your money at once

is broader and includes any wasteful spending not only spending all at once
to pissing money up the wall
vsto throw money away
  • Offensive
9.9

To spend money carelessly and waste it

is the neutral term for spending money on useless things
to trifle away
vsto throw money away
8.2

To waste time, money, or chances on things that do not matter

is for spending on unnecessary or worthless items not only trivial matters
to fool away
vsto throw money away
8.1

To waste time, money, or chances by being careless

is focused on spending wastefully not specifically caused by foolish behavior
to pour down the drain
vsto throw money away
  • Informal
6.0

Lose money, time, or effort by wasting it so it cannot be used

is about spending money wastefully not necessarily causing permanent loss

Antonyms

to invest
715 3.5

To put money, time, or effort into something hoping for a future benefit

to save
644 1.0

Use less of something to avoid waste

How Wasteful

to squander
67 6.5
to waste
∞ 1.0
to throw money away
4 3.5
to misspend
1 6.5
to spend
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

throw money away infinitive
throwing money away present participle
throws money away third person singular
threw money away past
thrown money away past participle

Morphology

throw + money + away

The phrase combines 'throw' (to propel/discard) with 'away' (off/dispose) applied to 'money', so its meaning 'to discard or get rid of money' — i.e. spend wastefully — is directly inferable from the constituents. This discard-to-waste mapping is a common metaphor across languages and follows standard compositional patterns, so a B1 learner who knows the words would very likely understand the MWE.

Etymology

Throw money away comes from a simple picture: imagine someone picking up coins or notes and throwing the money into a river or the bin so it is lost. That image explains why it means 'to spend money wastefully' or 'to buy things you do not need'.