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Definition of "profligate" []

  • Given over to dissipation; dissolute. (adjective)
  • Recklessly wasteful; wildly extravagant. (adjective)
  • A profligate person; a wastrel. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "profligate" in a sentence
  • "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."
  • "Moyo shows well how fundamental economic liberalisation espoused by what she calls the profligate, greedy, self-interested west has come back to bite it."
  • "Rendell to task for what he calls profligate spending."