Verschwendete

Verschwendete is a German word form that can serve as a verb form or as an attributive participle. It derives from the verb verschwend en (to squander, to waste) and is most commonly used as the Präteritum (simple past) form for ich und er/sie/es, as in Er verschwendete seine Zeit.

As a verb form, verschwendete expresses a completed act in the past. For example: Er verschwendete viel Zeit mit sinnlosen Aufgaben. In spoken language it can also appear in narrative past contexts.

As an adjective, the past participle vers hwendet, like verschwendet, is used to describe a noun. The attributive form verschwendete is placed before the noun to mean wasted, as in verschwendete Zeit (wasted time) or verschwendete Energie (wasted energy). In predicative position, one would typically use die Zeit war verschwendet or Die Energie war verschwendet.

Usage notes: Verschwendete is primarily a grammatical form rather than a standalone lexical item. In everyday German, the verb verschwendet/verschwenden or the noun Verschwendung are more common when speaking of waste in general. Verschwendete Zeit is a standard collocation for “time that was wasted.” The term can appear in formal writing, journalism, and literary contexts to describe resource waste, lost opportunities, or unnecessary effort.

Translations and related terms: Verschwendet translates as “wasted” or “squandered” when used as an adjective; Verschwendung means “waste” or “squandering.” Related verbs include vergeuden and verschwenden, which share similar meanings.

See also: Verschwendung, vergeuden, verschwenden, Verschwendungsbegriff.