wasteland

noun

waste·​land ˈwāst-ˌland 

 also  -lənd

1

: barren or uncultivated land

a desert wasteland

2

: an ugly often devastated or barely inhabitable place or area

3

: something (such as a way of life) that is spiritually and emotionally arid and unsatisfying

Synonyms

• barren
• desert
• desolation
• heath
• no-man's-land
• waste

Examples of wasteland in a Sentence

The outskirts of the city became a grim industrial wasteland.

That part of the country is a cultural wasteland.

the vast wasteland of television

Recent Examples on the Web

Or, whether those communities were once, but no longer are, predominantly Italian; were once, but no longer are, urban wasteland; and so on. —Gordon Hughes, Artforum, 1 Sep. 2024

Advertisement The plot is set in motion when Atlas (Edgar Ramírez), a stock power-hungry villain with plenty of high-tech weapons, hires ruthless Lilith to track down his bunny ears-wearing teenaged daughter Tina (Ariana Greenblatt) in Pandora, a wasteland. —Carlos Aguilar, Los Angeles Times, 9 Aug. 2024

What were once blocks of apartments there are now piles of rubble amid a wasteland of dunes. —Matt Gutman, ABC News, 17 Sep. 2024

Set in a post-apocalyptic world where Earth has become a frozen wasteland, and the remnants of humanity survive aboard a perpetually moving train that circles the globe, the show ran on TNT for its first three seasons before moving to AMC and AMC+ for its final run of episodes. —Matt Grobar, Deadline, 4 Sep. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

wasteland

noun

waste·​land ˈwāst-ˌland 

1

: land that is not cultivated or not fit for the cultivation of crops

2

: an ugly often ruined place or area