Prodigal

//ˈpɹɑdɪɡəl// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A prodigal person; a spendthrift; a wastrel.

    "Now thinkes he that her husbands ſhallow tongue, / The niggard prodigall that praiſde her ſo: / In that high task hath done her Beauty wrong."

  2. 2
    a recklessly extravagant consumer wordnet
Adjective
  1. 1
    Wastefully extravagant.

    "He found himself guilty of prodigal spending during the holidays."

  2. 2
    Yielding profusely, lavish. often

    "She was a merry person, glad and prodigal of smiles."

  3. 3
    Profuse, lavishly abundant.

    "Goe binde thou vp vond dangling Apricocks, / Which like vnruly Children, make their Syre / Stoupe with oppreſſion of their prodigall weight:"

  4. 4
    Behaving as a prodigal son:; Having (selfishly) abandoned a person, group, or ideal.
  5. 5
    Behaving as a prodigal son:; Returning or having returned, especially repentantly, after such an abandonment.

    "Simon Hart of the Daily Telegraph has tweeted that the prodigal triple-jumper has come home, in preparation for tomorrow's qualification round."

Adjective
  1. 1
    recklessly wasteful wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
profligateprofligatesquandererlavishextravagantgenerous

Example

More examples

"My roommate is prodigal when it comes to spending money on movies; he buys them the day they're released, regardless of price."

Etymology

From Middle French prodigal, from Late Latin prōdigālis (“wasteful”), from Latin prōdigus (“wasteful, lavish, prodigal”), from prōdigō (“to consume, squander, drive forth”), from prōd- [from prō (“before, forward”)] + agō (“to drive”). Also see prodigy.

Related phrases

prodigal sonprodigal son

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.