wasteness

English

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wasteness

/ˈweɪstnəs/ UK

Where it comes from

From Middle English wastnesse; equivalent to waste + -ness. Cognate with West Frisian woestens (“wildness, savagery, fierceness”), Dutch woestenis (“wasteland”), German Wüstnis (“desert, wasteland”).

noun wastenesses

countable, obsolete, uncountable The state of being laid waste; desolation. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness,
archaic, countable, uncountable The state of being uncultivated; wild, barren. Under her rays, the ground over which we passed assumed a more interesting appearance than during the broad day-light, which discovered the extent of its wasteness.
countable, obsolete, uncountable A wilderness. She of nought affrayd, / Through woods and wastnesse wide him daily sought

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MLA

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

APA

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

Chicago

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

BibTeX

@misc{wasteness_2026,
  title = {wasteness},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/wasteness},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}