wasteland
part of speech
noun (a wasteland, wastelands; wasteland, uncountable)
meaning for a pupil
1) An area of land that is empty, ruined or not used, such as land with rubble, weeds and rubbish. tree →
2) A place or a time with nothing good or interesting in it: "a cultural wasteland". tree →
sense in the lessons
In stories and films, a wasteland is a bleak, dangerous place, often after a war or a disaster. In cities, children may see empty patches of wasteland where buildings were knocked down; these can hide dangers like broken glass, so they are not safe places to play. In geography it can describe land damaged by mining or factories. Phrases: "a barren wasteland", "an urban wasteland", "an icy wasteland".
examples
- The old factory site was a wasteland of broken bricks and weeds. tree →
- In the film, the heroes crossed a frozen wasteland. tree →
- The town turned the wasteland into a park with trees and a playground. tree →
- Do not play on the wasteland; there is broken glass there. tree →
- After the war, the city was a wasteland. tree →
- Grandad said Sunday afternoon telly used to be a wasteland. tree →
note
Usually countable (a wasteland), but also used without "a" for land (an area of wasteland). One word. "Waste ground" means the same in the UK. "Waste" here means unused or spoiled, not rubbish only.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «wasteland» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.