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Profligate

//ˈpɹɒflɪɡət// adj, noun, verb

Definitions

Adjective

1
Inclined to waste resources or behave extravagantly.
"[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!"
2
Immoral; abandoned to vice.
"Made prostitute and profligate the muse."
3
Profligated: routed, overcome, driven away.
"The Canon laws […] with their Author, are profligate out of this realm."
4
Overthrown, ruined.
"The foe is profligate, and run."

Adjective

1
unrestrained by convention or morality wordnet
2
recklessly wasteful wordnet

Noun

1
An abandoned person; one openly and shamelessly vicious; a dissolute person.
"Have you come to Nelson seeking your death, profligate?"
2
a recklessly extravagant consumer wordnet
3
An overly wasteful or extravagant individual.
"He proposed to call witnesses to show how the prisoner, a profligate and spendthrift, had been at the end of his financial tether, and had also been carrying on an intrigue with a certain Mrs. Raikes, a neighbouring farmer’s wife."
4
a dissolute man in fashionable society wordnet

Verb

1
To drive away; to overcome. obsolete
"Such a stipulation would remove one powerful temptation to profligate pennyless seducers, of whom there are too many prowling in the higher circles ;"

Etymology

Etymology 1

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)), from prō- (“forward”) + flīgō (“to strike, dash”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix). Common participial usage of the adjective up until Early Modern English.

Etymology 2

Etymology 3

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