Waste, squander, dissipate, fritter, consume are comparable when they mean to spend or expend freely or futilely.
Waste often implies careless or prodigal expenditure (as of money or of things which cost money) but it may also imply useless or fruitless expenditure (as of time, talent, or energy).
Squander heightens the implications of waste by emphasizing reckless or lavish expenditures that tend to deplete or exhaust; often it suggests impoverishment or complete exhaustion.
Dissipate , in the specific sense here considered (see also SCATTER ), implies loss by extravagance, as if what is expended had been scattered to the four winds; it goes further than waste or squander , which do not, as does dissipate , in themselves imply exhaustion or near exhaustion of the store or stock.
Fritter , usually with away , implies expenditure on trifles or by bits; it usually suggests a gradual disappearance (as of money, of property, or of something of value).
Consume basically stresses a devouring or destroying (see also EAT ), (see also MONOPOLIZE ), but it can mean to waste or squander entirely as if by devouring. In this use it is decreasingly frequent with regard to money or property, but in reference to time or energy spent unprofitably, it is not uncommon.