Wasted is when a player is killed in a Grand Theft Auto game by losing all their health and armor. In Grand Theft Auto IV, the terms Wasted and Busted are not used, but the same effects take place for each.

Many things can contribute to this:

Drowning (in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories the player has a breath meter which has to run out for the player to be wasted).
Damage from explosions.
Damage from being shot.
Trapped in an exploding vehicle.
Catching fire.
Damage from beatings from pedestrians/police/gangs.
Damage from falling off a high point, or failing to open parachute (GTA San Andreas).
Running too fast on stairs, and therefore falling off, though this deals very little damage.
Being run over by a passing vehicle.
Stumble down the steps while drunk (GTA IV).
Thrown through the windshield at mid-to-high speeds (GTA IV).
Damage from bailing or falling off a bike (GTA IV).
Damage from bailing out of a moving vehicle.
Misusing the Rocket Launcher (shooting too close to the cars or on the wall).
Crashing at high speeds (in GTA IV).
Getting hungry (in GTA San Andreas).
Failing to throw a Grenade in time (GTA IV).
Letting go of the ladder while sliding down, thus hitting the ground hard (GTA IV)
Trip and then fall to the ground when going on top of a moving vehicle (GTA IV)

Effect

As a result of being Wasted in the GTA III era the player will lose all of their weapons and $100, the same as being Busted. In GTA IV however, the player is fined 10% of their money ($10,000 max) and gets to keep their weapons. In any game, any mission the player was on will be failed.