Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of wasteful While mini shampoos and sunscreens are fine in an emergency, these last-minute purchases can be wasteful and pricey. Amelia McBride, Travel + Leisure, 11 Jan. 2025 The exodus of residents from the state and city is a result of policies that have yielded a toxic combination of high crime, the absence of quality school choices, and nation-leading taxes and wasteful spending. Paul Vallas, Chicago Tribune, 10 Jan. 2025 President-elect Donald Trump recently announced his intent to create a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), with a focus on dismantling government bureaucracy, cutting wasteful expenditures, slashing excess regulations and restructuring federal agencies. Jeff Kottkamp, Orlando Sentinel, 9 Jan. 2025 Her speeches continued to focus on legislative issues, criticizing omnibus bills, for example, as opaque and wasteful. Peter Hessler, The New Yorker, 6 Jan. 2025 See all Example Sentences for wasteful 
Recent Examples of Synonyms for wasteful
Adjective
  • Top 3 Can't Miss Known for its extravagant events featuring LGBTQ+ icons, Nemacolin is a resort to experience at least once.
    Jared Ranahan, Travel + Leisure, 22 Jan. 2025
  • Archaeologists found the artwork in the floor of an extravagant mansion in Pompeii known as the House of the Faun in 1831.
    Sonja Anderson, Smithsonian Magazine, 22 Jan. 2025
Adjective
  • When the profligate first four years of socialist rule, from 1981-85, resulted in a rapidly deteriorating economy, Papandreou elevated Simitis to be finance minister and oversee a tight austerity program.
    Demetris Nellas, Los Angeles Times, 5 Jan. 2025
  • Musk has been sounding the alarm about the nation's profligate spending.
    Alex Nitzberg, Fox News, 27 Dec. 2024
Adjective
  • Still waiting for an organ, Richard relented, deciding to accept his friend’s generous offer.
    Allan Chernoff, Hartford Courant, 16 Jan. 2025
  • Viewpoints on responsible relief As an example of how tax reform could be undertaken responsibly, Kelly alluded to her signature policy priority, Medicaid expansion, suggesting that its enactment could offset generous tax relief.
    Matthew Kelly, Kansas City Star, 16 Jan. 2025
Adjective
  • Galle’s father worked for Marie Antoinette, but the French Revolution unsurprisingly had a major impact on the aristocratic market for spendthrift furnishings like this.
    Christopher Knight, Los Angeles Times, 21 May 2024
  • Those could have been used to constrain distributions to or for the benefit of the spendthrift child.
    Martin Shenkman, Forbes, 20 Feb. 2024
Adjective
  • Newport ’65 was really a Thanksgiving dinner gone amok, in which the prodigal son and the father and several uncles and others are fighting.
    Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 24 Dec. 2024
  • First, the show’s barnburner opening number is followed by a very, very, very long group performance at the show’s midpoint after prodigal son Johnny’s arrival.
    Daniel D'Addario, Variety, 13 Dec. 2024
Adjective
  • Frank Santoro with the L.A. County district attorney’s office argued the probation department was making the necessary improvements and releasing youth inside would be reckless.
    Rebecca Ellis, Los Angeles Times, 25 Jan. 2025
  • He was originally charged with disorderly conduct — a misdemeanor — and three counts of felony reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon.
    Lauryn Overhultz, Fox News, 25 Jan. 2025
Adjective
  • His careless blind backhand pass in the neutral zone on a Blackhawks power play was intercepted and the Calgary Flames went down the ice to score their fifth goal of the game — and the fourth Jones was on for Monday night.
    Scott Powers, The Athletic, 14 Jan. 2025
  • People with depression may be distracted on the road, have a slower reaction time, or have careless or impulsive driving behaviors, like hard braking or speeding.
    Elizabeth Yuko, Health, 9 Jan. 2025
Adjective
  • This Carter button, in the campaign’s signature green, summed up their politically balanced ticket: Deep South partnered with far North, appealing to liberal and conservative Democrats alike.
    Bill Marsh, New York Times, 31 Dec. 2024
  • South Korea’s conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol — weakened after the liberal opposition retained control in an April election -– astonished the country by declaring martial law in a late-night announcement on Dec. 3.
    Jill Lawless, Los Angeles Times, 30 Dec. 2024

Thesaurus Entries Near wasteful

Cite this Entry

“Wasteful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/wasteful. Accessed 30 Jan. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on wasteful

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!