leavings means A worthless and incidental residuum, such as scraps from a meal, or shavings or sawdust from wood. It carries an Arena rating of 1631, earned across 56 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, leavings ranks #733 of 13,223 for Most Ingenious Words, #1,575 of 13,223 for Scariest Words, #2,423 of 13,223 for Most Vivid Words, #3,062 of 13,223 for Funniest Words.
Why “leavings” is a great word
LEAVINGS — [Noun] The worthless and incidental residue that remains after the principal matter has been taken or used. Derived from the present participle of the verb 'leave', in the sense 'to allow to remain'. Unlike "remnant" (which suggests a small, surviving part of something once whole, often with a trace of value) or "legacy" (which denotes something of worth passed down), leavings are the definitively discarded. They are the cold, congealed fat at the edge of the plate; the sour dregs in the bottom of the cup; the fine, fragrant dust of worked wood swept from the workshop floor—a quiet, accumulated testament to all that was consumed and abandoned, the world's slow archaeology of the used-up.
Etymology
Participial form of "leave".
noun
- A worthless and incidental residuum, such as scraps from a meal, or shavings or sawdust from wood.“The poor survive on the leavings of the rich and wasteful.”
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- rejectamenta 82% match — Things that are thrown away or rejected; items with little or no value waste, rubbish, garbage, refuse, ejecta vs leavings →
- leazings 81% match — Ears of corn picked up from the fields after the harvest. vs leavings →
- wasteness 81% match — The state of being laid waste; desolation. vs leavings →
- wastrel 81% match — One who is profligate, who wastes time or resources extravagantly. vs leavings →
- minutia 81% match — A minor detail, often of negligible importance. vs leavings →
- dwindle 80% match — To decrease, shrink, diminish, reduce in size or intensity. vs leavings →
- swarf 80% match — The waste chips or shavings from an abrasive activity, such as metalworking, a saw cutting wood, or the use of a grindstone or whetstone. vs leavings →
- shambles 80% match — A scene of great disorder or ruin. vs leavings →