What I mean is, should he continue on the land or is he merely wasting his effort?

They were in fact not attacking, merely wasting cartridges and making a cheerful noise to celebrate the fall of Malaga.

I perceive that when I pointed out to you the matter of the watch, I was merely wasting my breath.

We're harm-proof, so to speak, and you are merely wasting your time trying to injure us.

Wandering from one to another merely wastes your energy.

They said they knew nothing of praying, thus Father Kirk was merely wasting time according to them.

Otherwise we will merely waste a great deal of this energy supply that we are so expensively putting in place.

"The halt will do well for us all," he told Cinnan, reassuring the other man that they weren't merely wasting time.

I see no reason why I have to subject myself to some uninteresting event that will merely waste my time.

Or are you merely wasting our time with glib remarks?