profligate en · ADJ
Pronunciation
- /ˈpɹɒflɪɡət/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- prŏʹflĭgət (US)
- (US) audio
- /ˈpɹɑːflɪɡət/ (US)
Etymology
The adjective is first attested in 1535, the verb in 1542; borrowed from Latin prōflīgātus, perfect passive participle of prōflīgō (“to strike down, cast down”) (see -ate (etymology 1, 2 an 3) and pro-), from prō- (“forward”) + flīgō (“to strike, dash”) + -ō (1st conjugation compound verb-forming suffix). Common participial usage of the adjective up until Early Modern English.
Meanings
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Inclined to waste resources or behave extravagantly.
[H]er Reputation—That—I have no Reaſon to believe is in Queſtion—But then hovv long her profligate Courſe of Pleaſures may make her able to keep it—is a ſhocking Queſtion! and her Preſumption VVhile ſhe keeps it—inſupportable!
1728, John Vanbrugh, Colley Cibber, The Provok’d Husband; or, A Journey to London. A Comedy, […], London: […] J[ohn] Watts, […], →OCLC, Act I, page 1:His undignified and profligate exile—needy suitor to-day to the only heiress of the royal French blood, and to-morrow to one of the nieces of the Italian adventurer, Mazarin. Utterly neglectful of what he owes to the kingdom which he hopes to regain, Charles has learned but adversity's worst lesson—expediency.
1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXIII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 258:This luxury-loving and profligate shell company is registered at a betting shop on the Caledonian Road, an unlovely thoroughfare in North London on which you'd be more likely to find amphetamines than a top-notch lawyer.
2018, Oliver Bullough, chapter 4, in Moneyland, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 65:Jay Rodriguez headed over and Dani Osvaldo might have done better with only David De Gea to beat and, as Southampton bordered on the profligate, United were far more ruthless.
2013 October 19, Ben Smith, BBC Sport:
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Immoral; abandoned to vice.
Time ſenſibly all things impairs; / Our fathers have been worſe than theirs; / And we than ours; next age will ſee / A race more profligate than we / (With all the pains we take) have ſkill enough to be.
a. 1686, Earl of Roscommon [i.e., Wentworth Dillon, 4th Earl of Roscommon]; Samuel Johnson, “The Sixth Ode of the Third Book of Horace”, in The Works of the English Poets. With Prefaces, Biographical and Critical, […], volumes X (The Poems of Rochester, Roscommon, and Yalden), London: […] E. Cox; for C. Bathurst, […], published 1779, page 257, →OCLC:Made prostitute and profligate the muse.
1685, John Dryden, To The Pious Memory of the Accomplish'd Young Lady Mrs. Anne Killigrew:
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(adjective, error-misspelling, participle) Overthrown, ruined.
The foe is profligate, and run.
1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| most profligate | Degree=Sup | lexicographic | |
| more profligate | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic |
Deriveds
profligateness · profligately · unprofligate · profligacy
Synonyms
lavish · wasteful · extravagant · spendthrift · licentious · wasteful · immoral · extravagant · imprudent · prodigal · improvident · profligate · unthrifty · prodigal · uneconomical · loose-handed · reckless · squandering
Translations (44)
ru неэконо́мный (inclined to waste resources or behave extravagantly) · pl rozwiązły (immoral; abandoned to vice) · hy անառակ (immoral; abandoned to vice) · de verschwenderisch (inclined to waste resources or behave extravagantly) · ru развра́тный (immoral; abandoned to vice) · fr dépensier (inclined to waste resources or behave extravagantly) · it dissoluto (immoral; abandoned to vice) · nl losbandig (immoral; abandoned to vice) · ru расточи́тельный (inclined to waste resources or behave extravagantly) · hu feslett (immoral; abandoned to vice) · pl niegospodarny (inclined to waste resources or behave extravagantly) · bg развратен (immoral; abandoned to vice) · bg разточителен (inclined to waste resources or behave extravagantly) · ru распу́тный (immoral; abandoned to vice) · az israfcıl (inclined to waste resources or behave extravagantly) · gl gastador (inclined to waste resources or behave extravagantly) · es inmoral (immoral; abandoned to vice) · grc ἄσωτος (inclined to waste resources or behave extravagantly) · grc ἄσωτος (immoral; abandoned to vice) · gl disoluto (immoral; abandoned to vice) · fi tuhlaavainen (inclined to waste resources or behave extravagantly) · mi rukeruke (inclined to waste resources or behave extravagantly) · mi ngutuhore (inclined to waste resources or behave extravagantly) · id berfoya-foya (inclined to waste resources or behave extravagantly) · pl rozrzutny (inclined to waste resources or behave extravagantly) · cmn 淫靡 (immoral; abandoned to vice) · fi paheellinen (immoral; abandoned to vice) · cmn 揮霍 /挥霍 (inclined to waste resources or behave extravagantly) · pl rozpustny (immoral; abandoned to vice) · nl verkwistend (inclined to waste resources or behave extravagantly) · it dissoluto (inclined to waste resources or behave extravagantly) · az bədxərc (inclined to waste resources or behave extravagantly) · gl pródigo (inclined to waste resources or behave extravagantly) · bg разпуснат (immoral; abandoned to vice) · es disoluto (inclined to waste resources or behave extravagantly) · hu tékozló (inclined to waste resources or behave extravagantly) · gl licencioso (immoral; abandoned to vice) · cmn 奢靡 (inclined to waste resources or behave extravagantly) · mi whiuwhiu (inclined to waste resources or behave extravagantly) · hu erkölcstelen (immoral; abandoned to vice) · cmn 揮霍無度 /挥霍无度 (inclined to waste resources or behave extravagantly) · gl libertino (immoral; abandoned to vice) · gl perdulario (inclined to waste resources or behave extravagantly) · cmn 荒淫 (immoral; abandoned to vice)