Wasted

Wasted is the term used for when a player "dies" or is seriously injured and collapses in a Grand Theft Auto game by losing all of their health. In Grand Theft Auto IV and its episodes, the term "Wasted" is not used, but the same effect takes place.

Causes
There are many ways a protagonist can be wasted. The most common examples include being shot at until the protagonist's health is depleted, being injured in explosions, or drowning. Since Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, the player will die if they fall from a great height. In Grand Theft Auto V, stalking another protagonist or attacking them may anger them and they will retaliate by punching the player in the temple, instantly wasting them.

Selected examples
 * Getting beaten up.
 * Diving for too long (GTA San Andreas and GTA V).
 * Standing in water that is too deep (GTA, GTA 2, GTA III, Vice City, Advance, and Liberty City Stories).
 * Being in water for too long (GTA Vice City Stories).
 * Sitting in a vehicle which is underwater for too long (San Andreas, GTA IV, Chinatown Wars, and GTA V).
 * Explosions from Grenades, RPGs, Satchel Charges, and vehicles.
 * Standing on the railway tracks for too long (GTA and GTA 2).
 * Getting run over (cars, bikes, trains, etc.).
 * Starving to death (GTA San Andreas).
 * Being exposed to fire for too long (running through flames or getting hit by a Molotov Cocktail).
 * Getting hit by the blades of a helicopter or plane (GTA Vice City, San Andreas, GTA IV, and GTA V).
 * Entering the car crusher (GTA III and Liberty City Stories).
 * Getting attacked by an animal (GTA V).
 * A player committing suicide (either by ingesting a lethal pill or self-inflicted gunshot), which results in a "You took the easy way out." message (GTA Online).

Knocked Out
Knocked Out is a unique Wasted screen exclusive to Grand Theft Auto Online in the Sumo Adversary Mode, and the Most Wanted VIP challenge, part of Organizations. Once the player is knocked off the area (Sumo), or is killed by the police (Most Wanted), they will die with a "Knocked Out" text instead of "Wasted". 

Obliterated
Obliterated is another unique Wasted screen, similar to the Knocked Out screen. The Obliterated screen only appears in GTA Online and occurs whenever the player is killed by another player using the Orbital Cannon.

Effects
Being wasted in the 3D Universe while in a mission will result in immediate mission failure, and the player will respawn at the nearest hospital. They will be stripped of their weapons and be charged $100 ($1,000 in Grand Theft Auto III). There are some exceptions however: In Grand Theft Auto IV, the player is deducted 10% of their money (up to a maximum of $10,000), but gets to keep their weapons. In Grand Theft Auto V, the player is deducted 5% of their money (up to a maximum of $5,000), but keeps their weapons too. In Grand Theft Auto V, getting wasted on a mission gives the player the option to retry from a certain checkpoint, though some Gold medal objectives (such as time or accuracy) will be disabled, preventing 100% completion. If the player declines the option to retry, they will respawn outside the nearest hospital and lose up to $5,000. In Grand Theft Auto Online, if a player is killed by another player and they are carrying at least $5,000, some of that money will be dropped and can be stolen by other players since the killed player did not yet deposit their money to their Maze Bank account. Furthermore, if the player is killed by cops and their Personal Vehicle is parked nearby, it will be impounded at the LSPD Auto Impound. In whatever manner the player dies, revival costs $500 each time, paid out from their bank account as a 'healthcare and bail' expense.
 * In Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, if Carl is dating nurse Katie Zhan, he will be able to keep his weapons upon death. However, this is different in the sixth and seventh-generation console versions, along with the mobile release, as Carl can keep his weapons upon getting wasted even if he does not date Katie Zhan.
 * In Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, the player can keep their weapons by paying a bribe of $2,000 to the hospital staff.
 * In the mobile versions of Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, the player's weapons won't be removed from the player's inventory.

Trivia

 * "Wasted" is a term most often used for being highly intoxicated from the use of alcohol or drugs. It is also a slang word for "murdered", which is the reason why this message appears if a player dies on any Grand Theft Auto game (except GTA IV and its episodes).
 * The term is known as "You're brown bread" in GTA London 1969 and 1961, which is Cockney rhyming slang for "you're dead".
 * In the Game Boy Color version of GTA 2, the term "Killed" is used rather than "Wasted."
 * In GTA 2, the special term "toasted" is used to indicate that the player has died due to catching on fire (particularly by the effects of Flamethrower), or "shocking" to indicate that the player has died by electricity – by walking too long on electrified rails, or by being hit by ElectroGun or ElectroFingers, though no NPC will ever use those weapons against the player. The results are, however, the same as if they were wasted in any other way.
 * In all GTA games, a pool of blood will most likely appear under the player (with a few exceptions, like the flames in GTA IV; this sometimes does not happen in GTA SA).
 * In Grand Theft Auto III, there were originally going to have a lot of alternate death obituaries instead of the usual "Wasted!" text. These leftovers remain in the game's text files in Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories.
 * In Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, when the player is wasted during a mission, the word "Wasted!" will still appear on the bottom right, while also displaying Mission Failed! in the middle.
 * In Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, when Carl fails some missions by dying, the "Mission Failed" sign will appear first and then the word "Wasted" shows up, which is somewhat strange. This also happens in the same way as Busted.
 * In GTA IV and its episodes, the term "Wasted" never appears in the screen. Instead, the screen turns grey, everything moves in slow motion, and the player is transported to the nearest hospital. However, if they die in a certain way, (the player's body is still falling, etc.) the game will continue showing the slow-mo scene until they press the continue button, which skips the scene. Skipping with the button also works when the player simply doesn't want to watch the whole "blackout". This is the only game not to have the words "Busted" and "Wasted" (unless if one counts GTA V, in which sometimes the word "Wasted" does not appear when the player dies although the wasted sound still plays).
 * Once killed, the camera will usually lock on to the killer and the player can zoom in to get a closer look of that person.
 * In Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, the words "Wasted" and "Busted" have returned for the first time. An ambulance siren will be heard lighting up if Huang is "wasted".
 * The words "Wasted" and "Busted" have returned in Grand Theft Auto V (for the second time), albeit darker in tone. The screen flashes and a sound effect reminiscent of a steel rod being struck right as the words appear (albeit with minor visual differences and missing steel rod sound in the enhanced version).
 * In GTA V, when the player dies during a mission, the term Wasted isn't used, but instead it'll show "Trevor died" ("T died" in the Prologue), "Michael died" ("M died" in the Prologue), or "Franklin died" as a failure reason (along with the "Mission Failed" message, as if it was the normal mission failure).
 * Trevor Philips' Special Ability will avoid most of the damage, including some lethal forms, like being shot by the Rhino and other explosions.
 * In GTA Online, there are different reasons appear under the "WASTED" sign, including the player committed suicide, got run over by another player's car, shot from another player's sniper rifle, caught in a man-made explosion, hit by the blade of another player's controlling helicopter, and so on.
 * If the player dies in a certain way (e.g. killed by any member of law enforcement or NPCs), there will be only a "WASTED" sign shown up, with the left-bottom of the screen says the player died.
 * When the player gets a cutscene that the plane is destroyed during the mission Stowaway in GTA San Andreas, the same case as GTA IV will happen but without the slow motion during the wasted scene.
 * The camera is the same as being busted when a player is killed by any member of law enforcement in GTA Vice City.
 * Additionally, they will still point their weapons at the player even though he/she is dead. This is also the same fashion as GTA III when the above situation happens.
 * In GTA San Andreas, they will stop attacking Carl once he is dead, regardless of whether a member of law enforcement killed him or not.
 * Sometimes, the word "Wasted" does not appear when the player dies in GTA V, making the wasted screen similar to GTA IV and its episodes. The wasted sound, however, will still play.
 * On certain missions and side missions, getting killed will not display the "Mission Failed!" text which is odd. This can also happen if the player is arrested during a certain mission.
 * In Grand Theft Auto Online, as part of the The Diamond Casino & Resort update, the player can buy two paintings for the Master Penthouse that reference the "Wasted" screen.