white elephant

noun

Definition of white elephantnext
as in throwaway

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Examples Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for white elephant
  1. throwaway
  2. second
  3. rubbish
  4. trash
  5. waste
  6. scrap
Noun
  • But more often than not, Maye nullified that pressure with his legs, a short throw or a throwaway.
    Andrew Callahan, Boston Herald, 19 Nov. 2024
  • But unlike the Super Heavy-Starship, the SLS is a throwaway, expendable booster expected to cost some $1.4 billion for each of its first four moon missions.
    William Harwood, CBS News, 4 Dec. 2024
Definition of throwaway
Noun
  • If there are critical business infrastructure components that cannot tolerate more than a few seconds or minutes of downtime, those are the areas that require immediate and concentrated attention from day one.
    Steve Durbin, Forbes, 13 Jan. 2025
  • About 15 seconds in, there was our unrecognizable rubble situated between the unmistakable landmarks: a street sign and a charred but familiar tree.
    Mikey O'Connell, The Hollywood Reporter, 13 Jan. 2025
Definition of second
Noun
  • In the city center and suburbs of Maputo, mountains of rubbish were piling up.
    Tavares Cebola, New York Times, 25 Dec. 2024
  • Not this current rubbish that has been served up and charged at Michelin star rates.
    Patrick Boyland, The Athletic, 16 Dec. 2024
Definition of rubbish
Noun
  • Nothing forced him to talk a little trash before the last game.
    Kevin Kurz, The Athletic, 10 Jan. 2025
  • The broken furniture, old clothing, drug paraphernalia and stacks of lottery tickets inside would eventually become 22 truckloads of trash.
    ProPublica, ProPublica, 10 Jan. 2025
Definition of trash
Noun
  • These enterprises know that the cost of non-quality operations is very high as seen in waste, scrap, downtime, low productivity, low yields, missed shipments and lost customers.
    John Clemons, Forbes, 13 Jan. 2025
  • The committee identified graft and corruption, inefficiencies and waste.
    Bruce W. Dearstyne / Made by History, TIME, 13 Jan. 2025
Definition of waste
Noun
  • Most clothes made of recycled materials use post-consumer plastic bottles or fabric scraps — an important element of textile recycling, but not a sufficient answer to pollution from fashion.
    Lewis Perkins, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 Jan. 2025
  • Here’s City writer, Sam Lee, who has gorged and feasted upon trophies galore in recent years, while the rest of us dine on scraps (or the Sela Cup, in my case).
    George Caulkin, The Athletic, 8 Jan. 2025
Definition of scrap
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.

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Thesaurus Entries Near white elephant

white dwarfs

white elephant

white elephants

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Cite this Entry

“White elephant.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/white%20elephant. Accessed 18 Jan. 2025.

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