wasting asset

British

noun

an unreplaceable business asset of limited life, such as a coal mine or an oil well

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

To some degree, American and Israeli air superiority is a wasting asset.

From The Wall Street Journal

Unlike oil and other commodities, timber isn’t a wasting asset, with trees growing about 2.5% a year.

From Barron's

Vitale whispered to me, in effect, “Get this book out fast. He is a wasting asset.”

From The New Yorker

It is always possible to quibble with the details of a peace process or peace deal, but here is the hard reality: U.S. leverage in Afghanistan is a wasting asset.

From Washington Post

After all, gala-dinner seats are a wasting asset: If you don’t sell them by the night of the dinner, they’re worthless.

From Slate

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023