white elephant

noun

Definition of white elephantnext
as in throwaway

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for white elephant
  1. throwaway
  2. castaway
  3. second
  4. rubbish
  5. trash
  6. waste
  7. scrap
Noun
  • Her reverend stepfather gets a throwaway line, and that’s pretty much it.
    — Lexy Perez, HollywoodReporter, 2 Oct. 2026
  • Robinson’s pressure of Mahomes on the same drive as the penalty forced a throwaway that led to a third-and-14 at the 14-yard line.
    — Omar Kelly, Miami Herald, 27 Sep. 2026
Definition of throwaway
Noun
  • Both are works in that long tradition of castaways forced to survive, but in many ways, Crusoe—a colonist and capitalist and the later a jaundiced observer of the worst excesses of those systems—is the opposite of Gulliver.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 28 Oct. 2026
  • As fans recall, season 50 featured a guest appearance by MrBeast, who challenged the castaways to correctly guess a coin toss to double the $1 million prize.
    — Ingrid Vasquez, PEOPLE, 23 Sep. 2026
Definition of castaway
Noun
  • With 13 seconds left and third down at the Braves’ 12, Guess threw the ball up toward the end zone and Brown, his best friend since the age of 6, caught it for a touchdown.
    — Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, 31 Oct. 2026
  • Eventually the inevitability of gravity brings them close enough to suddenly merge, sending out a tremendous blast of matter and energy that can outshine the sun by a factor of many billions, though just for the briefest fraction of a second.
    — Phil Plait, Scientific American, 30 Oct. 2026
Definition of second
Noun
  • Both men were arrested and charged with criminal mischief, criminal conspiracy and scattering rubbish.
    — Madeleine Wright, CBS News, 28 Oct. 2026
  • Twisted Teens are far from rubbish, but that isn't stopping them from playing in the trash for their latest music video.
    — Nina Corcoran, Pitchfork, 7 Oct. 2026
Definition of rubbish
Noun
  • The danger can begin when a battery is placed in a trash or recycling bin, Klein said.
    — Harllie Stevenson, Idaho Statesman, 28 Oct. 2026
  • The rats tear open trash bags and seem to resist mitigation efforts, including poison, peppermint spray and even freezing trash until collection day.
    — Joe Brandt, CBS News, 28 Oct. 2026
Definition of trash
Noun
  • That would require more than 2,000 new geological waste sites to be established — a new large-scale CCS project put into operation every four days, on average, for the next 25 years.
    — Katie Worth, ProPublica, 30 Oct. 2026
  • Over five years, Crowell said Saie has recovered 200,000 pounds of waste.
    — Charlotte Hu, Time, 30 Oct. 2026
Definition of waste
Noun
  • There are scraps of industrial, cybergrind, metalcore, and death metal in this stew, as well as a healthy garnish of Godflesh’s machinelike relentlessness, all of it well balanced.
    — Sadie Sartini Garner, Pitchfork, 30 Oct. 2026
  • The painting belonged to Bob Nijkerk, whose family had made its fortune in the iron and scrap-metal business in the 19th century.
    — Maximilíano Durón, ARTnews.com, 27 Oct. 2026
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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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 31 Oct. 2026.

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