I. trash 1 S3 /træʃ/ BrE AmE noun [uncountable]
[ Date: 1300-1400 ; Origin: From a Scandinavian language ]
1 . American English things that you throw away, such as empty bottles, used papers, food that has gone bad etc SYN rubbish British English :
Will someone take out the trash (=take it outside the house) ?
Just put it in the trash.
2 . informal something that is of very poor quality:
How can you read that trash?
3 . American English informal not polite someone from a low social class who you do not respect because you think they are lazy or immoral ⇨ ↑ white trash
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THESAURUS
▪ rubbish especially British English things that people throw away, such as old food, dirty paper etc:
People are being encouraged to recycle their household rubbish.
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the rubbish bin
▪ garbage/trash American English rubbish:
The garbage is collected every Tuesday.
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There were piles of trash in the backyard.
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a black plastic garbage bag
▪ refuse formal rubbish:
The strike has disrupted refuse collection.
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It’s a site which is used for domestic refuse.
▪ litter empty bottles, pieces of paper etc that people have dropped on the ground:
Parents should teach children not to drop litter.
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There was a lot of litter on the beach.
▪ waste rubbish, or materials that need to be dealt with after they have been used in industrial processes:
nuclear waste
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toxic waste
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household waste
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The company was fined for dumping toxic waste in the sea.
II. trash 2 BrE AmE verb [transitive]
1 . informal to destroy something completely, either deliberately or by using it too much:
The place got trashed last time we had a party.
2 . especially American English to criticize someone or something very severely:
The researchers are angry that attempts have been made to trash their work.
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THESAURUS
▪ destroy to damage something so badly that it no longer exists or cannot be used or repaired:
The earthquake almost completely destroyed the city.
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The twin towers were destroyed in a terrorist attack.
▪ devastate to damage a large area very badly and destroy many things in it:
Allied bombings in 1943 devastated the city.
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The country’s economy has been devastated by years of fighting.
▪ demolish to completely destroy a building, either deliberately or by accident:
The original 15th century house was demolished in Victorian times.
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The plane crashed into a suburb of Paris, demolishing several buildings.
▪ flatten to destroy a building or town by knocking it down, bombing it etc, so that nothing is left standing:
The town centre was flattened by a 500 lb bomb.
▪ wreck to deliberately damage something very badly, especially a room or building:
The toilets had been wrecked by vandals.
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They just wrecked the place.
▪ trash informal to deliberately destroy a lot of the things in a room, house etc:
Apparently, he trashed his hotel room while on drugs.
▪ obliterate formal to destroy a place so completely that nothing remains:
The nuclear blast obliterated most of Hiroshima.
▪ reduce something to ruins/rubble/ashes to destroy a building or town completely:
The town was reduced to rubble in the First World War.
▪ ruin to spoil something completely, so that it cannot be used or enjoyed:
Fungus may ruin the crop.
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The new houses will ruin the view.