Meaning & use
garbage man
Last updated
UK/ˈɡɑːbɪdʒ mæn/
US/ˈɡɑːrbɪdʒ mæn/
Meaning
nouncountableAmericaninformal
A man whose job is to collect household trash from the street and take it away in a truck.
Grammar: Countable: the garbage man comes on Tuesdays; two garbage men.
Patterns
- the garbage man comes
- wait for the garbage man
The garbage man comes every Tuesday morning before school.
My son waves at the garbage man every week.
The garbage man picked up the bags we left at the curb.
Word forms
| plural | garbage men |
|---|
Common combinations
- the garbage man comes
- The garbage man comes before seven, so put out the bins early.
- garbage man's truck
- The garbage man's truck blocked the narrow street.
- tip the garbage man
- Some families tip the garbage man at the holidays.
- wait for the garbage man
- We missed the garbage man and had to wait a week.
- call the garbage man
- Call the garbage man if they miss your street.
Synonyms and how they differ
- garbage collector
- Garbage collector is neutral and covers any gender, so it fits official writing better than garbage man.
- sanitation worker
- Sanitation worker is the formal job title and covers more tasks than collecting garbage.
- trash collector
- Trash collector is an everyday alternative that sounds slightly more neutral.
- dustman
- Dustman is the British equivalent and is not used in the U.S.
Word family
- garbage noun
- waste and trash
- garbage truck noun
- a vehicle that collects trash
- garbage can noun
- a container for waste
- garbageman noun
- alternative one-word spelling
Commonly confused: garbage man or bin man?
garbage man vs bin man
Bin man is the British term for the same job.
Practice
In American English, the person who empties the trash cans along the street is often called a ___.
Choose one answer.
A garbage man collects household trash. A handyman does odd repairs, which is the tempting but wrong option.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “garbage man”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.
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