wasteland
Meaning
an area of land that is empty or barren, often because it is damaged or not used for farming.
a place or situation that is considered to be lacking in cultural, intellectual, or moral value.
Structure
Usage
the industrial accident turned the surrounding valley into a toxic wasteland.
some critics view the popular television shows as a cultural wasteland.
plans are underway to rehabilitate the urban wasteland into a public park.
Etymology
The word 'wasteland' is a transparent compound formed from two Old English roots. 'waste' originates from the Old English 'wæsten', which described a desolate, uncultivated, or uninhabited state, itself derived from the Latin 'vastus' meaning empty or desolate. 'land' comes from the common Germanic root 'landą', meaning ground or territory. The compound literally means "desolate land," a concept that has been applied both physically to barren landscapes and metaphorically to culturally or spiritually barren environments, most famously in t.s. Eliot's poem "the waste land."
Analysis
waste (from old english 'wæsten', meaning a desolate or uncultivated state; functional role: descriptive adjective/root). land (from old english 'land', meaning ground, soil, territory; functional role: head noun).