Hypertext Webster Gateway: "wastefulness"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Wasteful \Waste"ful\, a.
1. Full of waste; destructive to property; ruinous; as,
wasteful practices or negligence; wasteful expenses.
2. Expending, or tending to expend, property, or that which
is valuable, in a needless or useless manner; lavish;
prodigal; as, a wasteful person; a wasteful disposition.
3. Waste; desolate; unoccupied; untilled. [Obs.]
In wilderness and wasteful desert strayed.
--Spenser.
Syn: Lavish; profuse; prodigal; extravagant. --
{Waste"ful*ly}, adv. -- {Waste"ful*ness}, n.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
wastefulness
n 1: the trait of wasting resources; "a life characterized by
thriftlessness and waste"; "the wastefulness of missed
opportunities" [syn: {thriftlessness}, {waste}]
2: useless or profitless activity; using or expending or
consuming thoughtlessly or carelessly: "if the effort
brings no compensating gain it is a waste"; "mindless
dissipation of natural resources" [syn: {waste}, {dissipation}]
Additional Hypertext Webster Gateway Lookup
Gateway by dict@stokkie.net
stock only wrote the gateway and does not have any control over the contents;
see the Webster Gateway FAQ,
and also the Back-end/database links and credits.