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garbage Meaning & Definition

/ˈɡɑː.bɪd͡ʒ/

What Does Garbage Mean?

Garbage is used as a noun meaning Food waste material of any kind. It can also mean Foul, rotten or unripe vegetable matter. As a verb, it means to eviscerate. As an adjective, it means bad, crap, shitty.

Garbage at a Glance

Part of speechnoun, verb, adjective
Pronunciation/ˈɡɑː.bɪd͡ʒ/
Syllables2
Synonymsrefuse, scraps and food waste
Verb formsgarbages, garbaging, garbaged

Garbage Definition (Noun)

  1. Food waste material of any kind.
  2. Foul, rotten or unripe vegetable matter.
  3. Useless or disposable material; waste material of any kind.

    The garbage truck collects all residential municipal waste.

  4. Specifically, waste material destined not to be reclaimed through recycling, composting, etc.

    Compost goes in the brown bin and is picked up Monday, recycling goes in blue bags and is picked up Wednesday, and garbage goes in black bags and is picked up Thursday.

  5. A place or receptacle for waste material.

    He threw the newspaper into the garbage.

  6. Nonsense; gibberish.

    This machine translation is garbage.

  7. Something or someone worthless.
  8. The bowels of an animal; refuse parts of flesh; offal.
  9. An easy shot.
  10. Allocated memory which is no longer in use but has not yet been deallocated.
  11. Data that are misinterpreted as another kind of data.

Garbage as a Verb

  1. to eviscerate

Garbage as an Adjective

  1. bad, crap, shitty

Synonyms of Garbage

Garbage synonyms and antonyms →

Garbage in a Sentence

The garbage truck collects all residential municipal waste.

Compost goes in the brown bin and is picked up Monday, recycling goes in blue bags and is picked up Wednesday, and garbage goes in black bags and is picked up Thursday.

Oh, don't put the empty milk jug in that bin—that one's for garbage.

He threw the newspaper into the garbage.

This machine translation is garbage.

Garbage is collected on Tuesdays; rubbish on Fridays

He gave me some pretty garbage advice last night.

Word Forms & Grammar

garbage (uncountable)

garbage (third-person singular simple present garbages, present participle garbaging, simple past and past participle garbaged)

garbage (not comparable)

Origin of Garbage

Origin 1: From late Middle English garbage (“the offal of a fowl, giblets, kitchen waste”, originally “refuse, what is purged away”), from Anglo-Norman, from Old French garber (“to refine, make neat or clean”), of Germanic origin, from Frankish *garwijan (“to make ready”).

Origin 2: Akin to Old High German garawan (“to prepare, make ready”), Old English ġearwian (“to make ready, adorn”). More at garb, yare, gear

Pronouncing Garbage

Garbage is pronounced /ˈɡɑː.bɪd͡ʒ/ and has 2 syllables, with the main stress on the first syllable (ɡɑː).

Common Questions About Garbage

Is garbage a noun or a verb?

Garbage is mainly used as a noun, but it can also be used as a verb and an adjective.

What is another word for garbage?

Close synonyms of garbage are refuse, scraps and food waste. See the full list of garbage synonyms and antonyms.

What is the past tense of garbage?

The past tense of garbage is garbaged. The present participle is garbaging.

More About Garbage On Meaning Stash

More Words Starting With “Garb”