# discard

/dɪˈskɑɹd/ (US)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/discard
Updated: 2026-08-08

## Senses

### 1. to throw away

verb · CEFR B2

to get rid of something because it is no longer useful or wanted.

For teachers: to dispose of or reject something as no longer useful or desirable. Transitive — requires a direct object.

- Please discard any old food from the fridge before you leave for vacation.
- The manufacturer decided to discard the faulty components rather than attempting a costly repair that might compromise safety standards.

### 2. card games

verb · CEFR B2

to get rid of a card from your hand that you do not want.

For teachers: to play or lay aside a card from one's hand. Often used intransitively in gaming contexts.

- On your turn, you must draw one card and then discard another.
- The professional player chose to discard the king, a tactical move that confused his opponents and protected his remaining high-value cards.

### 3. a rejected item

noun · CEFR C1 · Formal

something that has been thrown away or rejected.

For teachers: an item, person, or idea that has been cast aside or rejected as useless.

- The designer looked through the discards to see if any fabric could be reused.
- The pile of industrial discards behind the factory became a source of raw materials for local sculptors and hobbyists.

### 4. programming

noun · CEFR C1 · Technical

a temporary variable used to hold a value that the program will not use later.

For teachers: a dummy variable or placeholder used to receive a return value that is intentionally ignored by the application logic.

- The programmer used an underscore as a discard for the second value in the list.
- By using a discard for the unwanted output parameters, the developer kept the function call clean and improved the overall readability of the code.

## Examples

- Please discard any old files you no longer need.
- The system will automatically discard any incoming packets that do not match the security criteria.
- In high-performance computing, the ability to efficiently discard redundant data points is just as critical as the ability to process relevant ones, as it prevents memory overflow.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.