Dictionary

profligation en · NOUN

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin prōflīgātiō, from prō- (“forward”, (whence pro-)) + flīgō (“to strike, dash”) + -ō. By surface analysis, profligate + -ion.

Meanings

1. (countable, obsolete, uncountable) defeat; rout; overthrow
   • the braying of Silenus his Ass, conduced much to the profligation of the Giants 1609 (revised 1625), Francis Bacon, De Sapientia Veterum ('Wisdom of the Ancients')
   • Is it for thee to excite Chritian princes (already too much gorged with blood) to the profligation and fearefull slaughter of their owne subjects? 1839, Joseph Hall, The Works of Joseph Hall, page 407:
   • This is David's profligation and discomfiture of his enemies; this is an act of true honour, a true victory, a true triumph, to keep the field, to make good one station, and yet put the enemy to flight. 1839, John Donne, The Works of John Donne, page 478:
2. (countable, uncountable) Licentiousness; lewd behavior.
   • The attorney for the defense defines obscene literature as a 'malicious writing on the subject of sex, dsigned and calculated to stir avid curiosity only in the mind of a minor person whi is incapable of exercising mature, independent judgment; deny the true function of the sexual instinct in a human body as that which is necessary for the procreation of the species or cause him to forget the same; turn the flesh into a tool of profligation and dissipation; and bring about irreparable injury to the mind and body of the minor,' and criticizes the decision of the previous court, asserting that the book in question was written with sincere intent. 2014, Wen-Chen Chang, Li-ann Thio, Kevin YL Tan, Constitutionalism in Asia: Cases and Materials, page 724:
   • No doubt Siraj had shown traits of ruthlessness, cruelty and profligation before he became a nawab. 2016, Sushil Chaudhury, Trade, Politics and Society:
   • a site of constant exchange and transition, Columbus Circle is suspended in a state of marginal profligation through numerous fugitive concurrences . 2013, Evan Douglis, Autogenic Structures:
   • I've seen your player show folks, and such like wiggeling and waggeling, and chattering about London pride, and London profligation, and what not – Now I think, if one of them was just to set about talking a little of London kindheartedness and London charity, it would be rather more truerer, and quite as becoming. 1807, Thomas Morton, The School of Reform, page 64:
3. (countable, uncountable) The quality of being profligate; extravagance; overabundance.
   • Earlier this century, the preferred way for realists to mitigate any prima facie profligation of scientific entities was by appeal to scientific reductionism — the notion that all (other) sciences or parts of science are reducible to a single science and so, likewise, that all (other) scientific entities are reducible to the entities of this one science. 2002, R. Baine Harris, Neoplatonism and Contemporary Thought, page 19:
   • Perhaps this is one of the most extreme cases of profligation that one can cite; nonetheless, one should not equate excessive material possessions with one's quality as a human being and spiritual follower of Christ. 2013, James Patrick Watson, It's No Secret, page 74:
   • Reach for the Mentat and the prodigious profligation an expansion and exploration into the is. 2013, Matthew Kowalski, Cyberpunk Tao:
   • This profligation of grant programs has tended to confuse objectives, recipients, and administrators. 1973, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Labor and Public Welfare. Subcommittee on Employment, Poverty, and Migratory Labor, Impact of Federal Policies on Employment, Poverty, and Other Programs, page 1780:

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