Meaning & use
wasting assets
Last updated
Meanings
nounpluralbusinessfinancespecialist
Assets that naturally lose value over time, such as machinery, vehicles, or mines, rather than gaining value.
Grammar: Used as a plural noun: wasting assets are recorded differently. For one item, say a wasting asset.
Patterns
- wasting assets such as something
- treat something as wasting assets
Oil wells are wasting assets because they run out over time.
The accountant explained that the company's vehicles are wasting assets.
Investors often prefer land to wasting assets like machinery.
nounplurallegallawspecialist
In law, property that decreases in value through use or the passage of time, for example a lease or a copyright.
Grammar: In legal writing it often appears with a singular verb when treated as one category: wasting assets is a category of property.
Patterns
- wasting assets in law
- classify something as wasting assets
A lease with only five years left is one of the wasting assets in the estate.
The lawyer listed copyrights among the wasting assets.
For tax purposes, the court treated the patent as wasting assets.
Word forms
| singular | wasting asset |
|---|
Common combinations
- wasting assets such as mines
- Wasting assets such as mines are depleted as they are used.
- depreciate wasting assets
- Companies depreciate wasting assets over their useful life.
- treat something as wasting assets
- The tax office may treat the equipment as wasting assets.
- a category of wasting assets
- Vehicles fall into a category of wasting assets.
Synonyms and how they differ
- depreciating assets
- This is a broader everyday term for assets that lose value; 'wasting assets' is more technical and often used in law and accounting.
- depletable assets
- Used especially for natural resources that are used up, like oil or minerals; wasting assets can also include machinery and leases.
Opposites
Word family
- wasting asset noun
- The singular form for one such item.
- waste verb
- To use something badly or lose it gradually.
Commonly confused: wasting assets or wasted assets?
wasting assets vs wasted assets
This means assets that have been wasted or badly used, not assets that naturally lose value over time.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'wasting assets' correctly?
Choose one answer.
Wasting assets are things like vehicles that lose value with use. Option 1 is wrong because the plural noun cannot follow 'a'; option 2 confuses it with the idea of wasting money; option 3 uses the noun as a verb.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “wasting assets”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.