profligate
/ˈprɒflɪɡət
/adjective
1Recklessly extravagant or wasteful in the use of resources: profligate consumers of energy...
- Unfortunately, the extent of the downswing will be proportional to boom-time excesses, and the profligate consumer sector will be forced to retrench.
- Dismissing conservation as a low priority is dangerous in that it will encourage a profligate use of natural resources and a lack of concern about the current human destruction of the Earth.
- Manifestly, America's bubble economy of the late 1990s had its center in the most profligate consumer borrowing and spending binge in history.
Synonyms
wasteful, extravagant, spendthrift, improvident, prodigal, immoderate, excessive, thriftless, imprudent, reckless, irresponsible
2Licentious; dissolute: he succumbed to drink and a profligate lifestyle...
- The recent support for the party of Pim Fortuyn in the Netherlands has failed to quell the spirit of profligate immorality endemic to that country.
- In Northern Europe, they'll deny you a discharge if they think you ran up the original debt in a profligate or immoral fashion.
Synonyms
dissolute, degenerate, dissipated, debauched, corrupt, depraved, reprobate, unprincipled, immoral;
promiscuous, loose, wanton, licentious, lascivious, lecherous, libertine, lewd, decadent, rakish, shameless, abandoned, unrestrained, fast, fast-living;
sybaritic, voluptuary
noun
A licentious, dissolute person: he is a drunkard and a profligate...
- It was believed Germans were afraid of pooling their successful monetary sovereignty with putative profligates such as, perhaps, Italy.
- The profligates that biologists call stem cells have their own secret for staying young: run away and hide in a place far from the machinations of transcription factors with an eye on your genes.
- White, blue, purple, and scarlet were the colors of the gods, priests, profligates, saints and monarchs, either in combination or singularly.
Synonyms
libertine, debauchee, degenerate, reprobate, roué, lecher, rake, loose-liver, dissolute person;
sybarite, voluptuary, sensualist
informal lech
dated rip
Derivatives
profligately
- They are profligately displaying their power, including the power to abuse the House's tenuous-at-best policing of itself.
- When others consume profligately, it can actually harm society.
- He chose movie scripts profligately, appearing in lousy films just to earn money for his expensive enthusiasms.
Origin
Mid 16th century (in the sense 'overthrown, routed'): from Latin profligatus 'dissolute', past participle of profligare 'overthrow, ruin', from pro- 'forward, down' + fligere 'strike down'.