waste of skin
1
9.9
- noun
- Offensive
:
pedazo de mierda
- 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
169
9.9
A person or thing that is very bad and has no value used to insult someone
148
7.4
People who are treated as worthless or unimportant
61
9.6
A rude word for a person or thing that is very bad and not worth anything
14
1.7
A thing that is useless and not worth keeping
11
4.7
Something thought to be worthless or of very low quality
1
8.4
Someone or something people see as weak and not important
1
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
9.9
A rude word for a person who lies or cheats
1
9.2
An insulting word for a person who is dishonest or behaves badly
1
9.9
A rude word used to call someone a worthless person
1
9.9
Someone or something people treat as worthless and easily defeated
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
A person others think is useless and not successful
A person who acts badly and cannot be trusted
A dishonest person who cheats or lies to others
A person people see as useless and as wasting resources by just living
People or ideas others use as unimportant material
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'.