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profligate

Pronunciation: /ˈpɹɒflɪɡət/

The English word “profligate” has 6 meanings listed here.

adjective

  1. Inclined to waste resources or behave extravagantly.
  2. Immoral; abandoned to vice.
  3. Overthrown, ruined.

noun

  1. An abandoned person; one openly and shamelessly vicious; a dissolute person.
  2. An overly wasteful or extravagant individual.

verb

  1. To drive away; to overcome.

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.

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