From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishbe a waste of time/money/effort etcbe a waste of time/money/effort etcPOINTLESSto be not worth the time, money etc that you use because there is little or no result We should never have gone – it was a total waste of time. → waste
Examples from the Corpus
be a waste of time/money/effort etc• An unrealistically low offer is a waste of time.• As I said, many of these divisions of investigation will be a waste of time.• But it was a waste of time.• He may protest to the auditor that this is a waste of time.• I feel annoyed, it is a waste of time.• Marx thought that scholarly contemplation was a waste of time.• Which was a waste of time really, because all I wanted to do was join Granpa on the barrow.• While some thought that they did a good job, a substantial minority felt that they were a waste of time. 