wastebasket

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wastebasket

Where it comes from

From waste + basket.

noun wastebaskets

A usually small indoor receptacle for items that are to be discarded; a rubbish bin.
broadly, figuratively Any region or grouping that is worthless or meaningless. The order Insectivora provides such a taxonomic wastebasket in classifications of the placental mammals.

verb wastebaskets · wastebasketing · wastebasketed

transitive To discard in a wastebasket. I was aweary, aweary, and I put it in the waste basket. Ten days later the bill came again, and with it a shadowy threat. I waste-basketed it.

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MLA

"wastebasket." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/wastebasket. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

wastebasket. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/wastebasket

Chicago

"wastebasket." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/wastebasket.

BibTeX

@misc{wastebasket_2026,
  title = {wastebasket},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/wastebasket},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}