Meaning & Definition of word "Garbage"

Garbage

/ˈɡɑrbɪdʒ/

noun:

  • 1. waste material; refuse or litter.
    • Example: Please take out the garbage before it starts to smell.
  • 2. nonsensical or worthless ideas or statements.
    • Example: The movie was filled with garbage that made no sense.
  • 3. something that is regarded as worthless or insignificant.
    • Example: He felt the feedback he received was just garbage and not constructive.

verb:

  • 1. to discard as waste.
    • Example: We need to garbage all the old papers cluttering the office.

Etymology

Late Middle English, from the Old French 'garbage' meaning 'refuse, scraps'.

Common Phrases and Expressions

garbage in, garbage out:

The concept that the quality of output is determined by the quality of the input.

don't throw the baby out with the bathwater:

Don't discard something valuable along with the unnecessary.

a bag of garbage:

A collection of worthless items or ideas.

Related Words

refuse:

Items that are discarded or rejected.

waste:

Material that is not wanted or is considered unusable.

litter:

Items or waste that are left lying around in public places.

Slang Meanings of garbage

Meaning: Something of poor quality or worthless.

Example Sentence: That new phone is garbage; it keeps crashing.

Meaning: Fake or exaggerated information.

Example Sentence: All that gossip is just garbage; don't believe it.