English Reference
Idiom idiom

hot garbage


Anything that is extremely bad, low-quality, or worthless.

Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.


SIMPLE

This new movie is absolute hot garbage.

CONTEXTUAL

The report was full of errors and missing data, so the manager called it hot garbage.

COMPLEX

After reading the poorly written manuscript, the editor dismissed the entire project as hot garbage that would never sell.


From the compound of hot, in its mid-20th-century sense of radioactive, and garbage. The term originated in the nuclear industry to denote radioactive waste materials before evolving into a general descriptor for the highly undesirable.


Related idioms8entries
  1. 01

    baking hot

    Very hot.

  2. 02

    blow hot air

    To engage in empty or exaggerated talk that lacks substance, credibility, or truth; to bluster.

  3. 03

    blow hot and cold

    To behave inconsistently; to vacillate or to waver, as between extremes of opinion or emotion.

  4. 04

    boiling hot

    Extremely hot (having a high temperature: of an object, the weather, a living creature).

  5. 05

    come in hot

    To enter the scene of conflict quickly and aggressively.

  6. 06

    full of hot air

    Talking a lot, especially without saying anything of value or meaning.

  7. 07

    hissing hot

    Very hot.

  8. 08

    hot air

    Empty, confused, or exaggerated talk lacking meaning or substance; bluster.

Last updated August 10, 2026