Waste of time meaning in English
Learn how to use Waste of time correctly with Gymglish.
Test and improve your English. Start your free trial today.
TEST YOUR ENGLISH
Free trial and no commitment to buy
4,7 on App Store, Play Store and Trustpilot
More than 8 million learners worldwide
Definition
a waste of time: a bad use of time, time spent doing useless or unnecessary things
Sometimes I think that talking to Philip is a waste of my time. There's no point trying to speak to him as he doesn't listen anyway.
We're wasting our time negotiating with you. Let's go; there's no point staying here, it's a useless way to spend the time we have.
to waste: to squander, to make bad use of; to decay, to decline
Sometimes I get the impression that he's wasting his life collecting stamps. It's such a pointless activity.
I already wasted all morning looking for the missing report. I spent all that time looking for it for nothing; I didn't find it!
Don't waste your food; please eat it as I don't want to have to throw it in the garbage.
Examples
- "This has been a giant waste of time and money, and a good illustration of what is wrong with this country."
- "MyFace is a website that allows you to waste your time at work, spy on your partner, and forward spam messages to your entourage!"
- "Horatio : So you wasted your time writing those lab reports, Brian."
- "So, as you can imagine, it would be a waste of time for your friend to come down to the offices, because he can't do anything for us."
- "Thanks for wasting my time, you British idiot!"
- "Kate : Oh, well I'm sorry to have wasted your time, Mr. Moon."
- "-Seems. Well this seems to be a waste of my time."
- "Thanks for wasting my time, mister!"
Exercise 1
Bob writes that it would be for Polly's friend to .
Bob writes that it would be useless 1 for Polly's friend to visit the offices 2.
1 useless: Bob writes: "it would be a waste of time for your friend to come down". Something that is a "waste of time" is "useless". Both terms describe the futility or inutility of something.
1 time-consuming: A "waste of time" means that a task is "not worth doing", while "time-consuming" indicates that a lot of time is required to finish the task.
1 unlikely: "Unlikely" is not synonymous with "a waste of time". The term "unlikely" describes something which is improbable or implausible. For example: That story about saving the orphans is unlikely.
2 visit the offices: Bob writes: "it would be a waste of time for your friend to come down". "To come down" simply means "to come" or "to visit". "To come down" often indicates that the distance between two locations is not very great.
2 bring his equipment: This is incorrect. Bob never writes about technical equipment.
2 go to the basement: To "come down" is not a literal invitation to a low or underground location in this context. We could say, however: "Come down to the basement and let me show you something" if we wanted to describe such a location. A basement is a space in the below buildings or house often used for storage.
2 restrain himself: Do not mistake "come down" with "calm down". To "restrain oneself" is to keep oneself from losing control, or doing or saying something extreme.
Exercise 2
Polly writes she found Kevin "on his hands and knees". This means that Kevin was in the break room.
Polly writes she found Kevin "on his hands and knees". This means that Kevin was crawling around in the break room.
crawling around: The idiom "to be on one's hands and knees" means to "crawl around" (on the floor for example). Babies crawl before they learn to walk.
on his four feet: We cannot say this in English, mainly because people do not have four "feet"! This is unidiomatic.
wasting time: The idiom "to be on one's hands and knees" does not express that someone is "wasting time". It is actually a description of a physical state.
very agitated: The idiom "to be on one's hands and knees" does not express that someone is "very agitated". It is actually a description of a physical state.
Still unsure of the best way to use 'Waste of time'? Improve your English thanks to our online English lessons. We offer a free test as well as a free level assessment!
What our users say:
Test your English with Gymglish today and get a free level assessment
Absolutely free - no strings attached.
