profligate
/ˈpɹɑːflɪɡət/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.37 in modern English
16
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
3
Syllables
10
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Inclined to waste resources or behave extravagantly.
adj
noun
An abandoned person; one openly and shamelessly vicious; a dissolute person.
noun
An overly wasteful or extravagant individual.
verb
Obsolete form of profligated (past participle of profligate): profligated: routed, overcome, driven away.
Obsolete
Example Sentences
- "[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!"
- "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."
- "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."
- "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."
- "Made prostitute and profligate the muse."
- "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."
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.
Word Breakdown
- Root: *per-
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈpɹɑːflɪɡət/
- British English: /ˈpɹɒflɪɡət/
Usage
Inflected Forms
more profligate (comparative)
most profligate (superlative)
profligates (plural)
profligates (present, singular)
profligating (participle, present)
profligated (participle, past)
profligated (past)