We derive the total energy decay E(t) ≤ I 0 (1 + t) −1 and L 2 boundedness u(t) 2 ≤ CI 0 for the solutions to the initial boundary value problem for the wave equation in an exterior domain Ω:with u(x, 0) = u 0 (x), u t (x, 0) = u 1 (x) and u| ∂Ω = 0, where I 0 = u 0 H 1 + u 1 2 and a(x) is a nonnegative function which is positive near some part of the boundary ∂Ω and near infinity. We apply these estimates to prove the global existence of decaying solutions for semilinear wave equations with nonlinearity f (u) like |u| α u, α > 0. We note that no geometrical condition is imposed on the boundary ∂Ω.