cast away

1. Also, cast aside . Discard, reject, as in He picked a book, then cast it aside , or She cast away all thoughts of returning home . [Early 1400s]

2. Squander, waste, as in She cast away a fortune on jewelry . Shakespeare used this idiom in King John (2:1): “France, hast thou yet more blood to cast away?” [Early 1500s]

Example Sentences

The act also says anyone who “shamefully casts away his arms, ammunition, tools, or equipment or misbehaves in such manner as to show cowardice in the presence of the enemy” faces the same penalty.

From Seattle Times

It’s an issue of confidence, with Emily Mann directing her cast away from Williams’s assured dialogue and toward their characters’ flailing.

From New York Times

The assertion supported the defense's attempt to cast away blame by creating distance between Trump and certain details in his vastly inflated financial statements.

From Salon

There was no record of where they went, she said, and she was haunted by the comment of a Russian administrator who told her the Ukrainian children had been cast away “like kittens.”

From New York Times

“They must cast away centuries-old notions of themselves as God’s chosen people,” he wrote.

From Washington Post

Related Words

• absent
• adrift
• disoriented
• hidden
• invisible
• misplaced
• vanished