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wastage

American  
[wey-stij] / ˈweɪ stɪdʒ /

noun

  1. loss by use, wear, decay, etc.

  2. loss or losses as the result of wastefulness.

    The annual wastage of time due to illness is appalling.

  3. the action or process of wasting: waste.

    the steady wastage of erosion.

  4. something that is wasted; waste; waste or waste materials.

    The river was befouled by factory wastage.
wastage British  
/ ˈweɪstɪdʒ /

noun

  1. anything lost by wear or waste

  2. the process of wasting

  3. reduction in size of a workforce by retirement, voluntary resignation, etc (esp in the phrase natural wastage )

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Usage

Waste and wastage are to some extent interchangeable, but many people think that wastage should not be used to refer to loss resulting from human carelessness, inefficiency, etc: a waste (not a wastage ) of time/money/effort etc

Etymology

Origin of wastage

First recorded in 1750–60; waste + -age

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.