junked

Meanings

1. 1verbtransitiveinformal

   Past tense and past participle of junk: threw something away or scrapped it because it had no more use.

   Grammar: Takes an object: she junked the old printer.

   Patterns

   • junked something
   • junk something for something

   We junked the broken sofa after the move.

   He junked the first draft and started again.

   The city junked hundreds of old buses last year.

2. 2adjectivebefore a nouninformal

   Thrown away or abandoned as useless, often describing a vehicle or machine left to decay.

   Grammar: Sits before a noun: a junked car, a junked machine.

   Patterns

   • a junked something

   Children played inside a junked bus at the edge of town.

   A junked refrigerator sat behind the shed for years.

   The lot was filled with junked cars waiting to be crushed.

Common combinations

junked car

A junked car sat rusting by the road.

junked the idea

The committee junked the idea after one meeting.

junked the plan

They junked the plan when costs doubled.

junked it

I read the letter and junked it.

junked for parts

The truck was junked for parts after the crash.

Synonyms and how they differ

scrapped

Scrapped is more neutral and often applies to plans or machines taken out of use.

discarded

Discarded is more formal and suits any object thrown away without implying it is rubbish.

ditched

Ditched is even more casual and often means abandoned quickly, not necessarily because it was broken.

dumped

Dumped implies throwing something away carelessly, often in a place that is not meant for waste.

Opposites

Word family

junk verb

to throw away as useless

junk noun

things of little value

junky adjective

of poor quality

junkyard noun

a place where scrap is stored

junking noun

the act of throwing away as useless

Commonly confused: junked or jerked?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “junked”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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