Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Given to or characterized by licentiousness or dissipation.
- adjective Given to or characterized by reckless waste; wildly extravagant.
- noun A profligate person.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To drive away; disperse; discomfit; overcome.
- Overthrown; conquered; defeated.
- Ruined in morals; abandoned to vice; lost to principle, virtue, or decency; extremely vicious; shamelessly wicked.
- Synonyms Profligate, Abandoned, Reprobate, etc. See
abandoned and wicked. - noun An abandoned person; one who has lost all regard for good principles, virtue, or decency.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective obsolete Overthrown; beaten; conquered.
- adjective Broken down in respect of rectitude, principle, virtue, or decency; openly and shamelessly immoral or vicious; dissolute.
- noun An abandoned person; one openly and shamelessly vicious; a dissolute person.
- transitive verb obsolete To drive away; to overcome.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective obsolete Overthrown, ruined.
- adjective Inclined to
waste resources or behaveextravagantly . - adjective
Immoral ; abandoned tovice . - noun An
abandoned person; one openly and shamelessly vicious; adissolute person. - noun An overly
wasteful orextravagant individual. - verb obsolete To drive away; to
overcome .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective recklessly wasteful
- noun a recklessly extravagant consumer
- noun a dissolute man in fashionable society
- adjective unrestrained by convention or morality
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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N'dour has strongly criticised what he calls the profligate spending of the Wade leadership in a country where formal employment is rare and average income per head is $3 a day.
Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph Telegraph Staff 2011
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Rendell to task for what he calls profligate spending.
Phillies Zone 2011
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Rendell to task for what he calls profligate spending.
Phillies Zone 2011
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N'dour has strongly criticised what he calls the profligate spending of the Wade leadership in a country where formal employment is rare and average income per head is $3 a day.
Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph Telegraph Staff 2011
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Moyo shows well how fundamental economic liberalisation espoused by what she calls the profligate, greedy, self-interested west has come back to bite it.
The Guardian World News John Vidal 2011
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A planet with the limitations and the make-up of Earth cannot realistically be expected to much longer maintain profligate over-consumption and adamantine hoarding of limited resources as well as seemingly endless expansion of production capabilities by millions of people, mostly in the overdeveloped world, that we see occurring as a result of actions by a tiny minority of selfish people who possess the wealth and power needed to behave in this ostentatious way.
Personal Sustainability: The Path to Worldwide Environmental Sustainability 2008
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The tuition subsidy to foreigners costs state taxpayers an estimated $117 million per year — a substantial sum even in profligate California.
Asian Illegal Students Endure “Stigma”, But Take The Taxpayers’ Money Anyway 2008
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The tuition subsidy to foreigners costs state taxpayers an estimated $117 million per year — a substantial sum even in profligate California.
Asian Illegal Students Endure “Stigma”, But Take The Taxpayers’ Money Anyway 2008
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The tuition subsidy to foreigners costs state taxpayers an estimated $117 million per year — a substantial sum even in profligate California.
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Know, O King that a certain profligate man, who was addicted to the sex, once heard of a beautiful and lovely woman who dwelt in a city other than his own.
madmouth commented on the word profligate
almost synonymous with 'rich man's son'
April 13, 2009
kingparton commented on the word profligate
The worthless and profligate meet the public eye in our streets, on the wharves, and, occasionally, stretched in a state of intoxication on the pavements.
Mathew Carey, "Public Charities of Philadelphia"
August 25, 2011
TrueObsession14 commented on the word profligate
It takes a lot of self control for me not to engage in profligate spending when I get my paycheck each month.
October 11, 2014
mohitanand commented on the word profligate
adjective: spending resources recklessly or wastefully
The composer Wagner, while living on a limited salary, was so profligate as to line all the walls of his apartment with pure silk.
October 11, 2016
stuartmathergibson commented on the word profligate
profligate
Given to or characterized by licentiousness or dissipation.
adjective Given to or characterized by reckless waste; wildly extravagant.
June 14, 2022