ISEE/SSAT Vocabulary BuilderWordsPprofligate
ISEE/SSAThard
profligate
Meaning: recklessly wasteful with money or resources
profligate in a sentence
How profligate is used in real sentences:
The profligate ruler emptied the treasury on lavish celebrations.
The committee condemned the profligate use of water during the drought.
“The council had been parsimonious when modest spending might have protected residents, but astonishingly profligate afterward, funding banners that declared the creek safe.”
— from the passage The Case She Carried
“Its chairman later accused Vane of being profligate with fuel, although the accounts show that the furnace consumed no more coal than comparable castings.”
— from the passage The Fault in the Bronze
Synonyms for profligate
Other words for profligate — wasteful, extravagant and prodigal — carry the same meaning.
- wasteful
- extravagant
- prodigal
Antonyms of profligate
Words that mean the opposite of profligate:
- thrifty
- frugal
- economical
Where it comes from
From Latin profligare, meaning 'to ruin or overthrow.'
Word parts
- pro — forward; before; in favor of
profligate: pro- (forward) + flig (strike) + -ate (having been)
Memory hook
PROFLIGATE sounds like 'profits flee': wasteful spending makes profits flee.
Practice profligate in the app