"hot garbage" meaning in English

See hot garbage in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Etymology: From hot (“radioactive”) + garbage (“waste”). Originally a term for radioactive materials, it evolved as a descriptor for anything highly undesirable. Etymology templates: {{af|en|hot|garbage|t1=radioactive|t2=waste}} hot (“radioactive”) + garbage (“waste”) Head templates: {{en-noun|-}} hot garbage (uncountable)
  1. Nuclear waste. Tags: uncountable
    Sense id: en-hot_garbage-en-noun--IeoXmRL Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 99 1 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 99 1 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 99 1
  2. (informal) Anything that is extremely bad. Tags: informal, uncountable
    Sense id: en-hot_garbage-en-noun-GTplmS3h
{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "hot",
        "3": "garbage",
        "t1": "radioactive",
        "t2": "waste"
      },
      "expansion": "hot (“radioactive”) + garbage (“waste”)",
      "name": "af"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From hot (“radioactive”) + garbage (“waste”). Originally a term for radioactive materials, it evolved as a descriptor for anything highly undesirable.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "hot garbage (uncountable)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "99 1",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "99 1",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "99 1",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              289,
              300
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1955 April, Rafe Gibbs, Popular Mechanics, volume 103, number 4, Hearst Magazines, page 250:",
          "text": "The water is first filtered and processed to eliminate as much as possible substances that might become radioactive. After going through the reactor, it is held in basins until the radioactivity of the remaining impurities dies down and then is released. The water is still carrying some \"hot garbage,\" but not very much.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Nuclear waste."
      ],
      "id": "en-hot_garbage-en-noun--IeoXmRL",
      "links": [
        [
          "Nuclear waste",
          "nuclear waste#English"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "uncountable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              245,
              256
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2013, Brady Udall, The Lonely Polygamist, Random House, →ISBN, page 109:",
          "text": "It wasn't a big deal for some people who were lucky enough to have regular-smelling feet, but Rusty had been born with foot-odor complications, which caused certain people to gag when he entered the room, or to ask him why his feet smelled like hot garbage.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Anything that is extremely bad."
      ],
      "id": "en-hot_garbage-en-noun-GTplmS3h",
      "links": [
        [
          "extremely",
          "extremely"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal) Anything that is extremely bad."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "hot garbage"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English compound terms",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English uncountable nouns",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "hot",
        "3": "garbage",
        "t1": "radioactive",
        "t2": "waste"
      },
      "expansion": "hot (“radioactive”) + garbage (“waste”)",
      "name": "af"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From hot (“radioactive”) + garbage (“waste”). Originally a term for radioactive materials, it evolved as a descriptor for anything highly undesirable.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "hot garbage (uncountable)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              289,
              300
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1955 April, Rafe Gibbs, Popular Mechanics, volume 103, number 4, Hearst Magazines, page 250:",
          "text": "The water is first filtered and processed to eliminate as much as possible substances that might become radioactive. After going through the reactor, it is held in basins until the radioactivity of the remaining impurities dies down and then is released. The water is still carrying some \"hot garbage,\" but not very much.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Nuclear waste."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Nuclear waste",
          "nuclear waste#English"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "uncountable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English informal terms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              245,
              256
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2013, Brady Udall, The Lonely Polygamist, Random House, →ISBN, page 109:",
          "text": "It wasn't a big deal for some people who were lucky enough to have regular-smelling feet, but Rusty had been born with foot-odor complications, which caused certain people to gag when he entered the room, or to ask him why his feet smelled like hot garbage.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Anything that is extremely bad."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "extremely",
          "extremely"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal) Anything that is extremely bad."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "hot garbage"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-02-08 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-02-01 using wiktextract (f492ef9 and 9905b1f). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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