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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

profligate.

Inclined to waste resources or behave extravagantly.

10 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˈpɹɒflɪɡət/Received-Pronunciation/ˈpɹɑːflɪɡət/US
  1. Inclined to waste resources or behave extravagantly.

  2. Immoral; abandoned to vice.

  3. Overthrown, ruined.

    adjective · error-misspelling · participle
Where this word comes from

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.

noun/ˈpɹɒflɪɡət/Received-Pronunciation/ˈpɹɑːflɪɡət/US
  1. An abandoned person; one openly and shamelessly vicious; a dissolute person.

  2. An overly wasteful or extravagant individual.

Where this word comes from

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.

verb/ˈpɹɒflɪɡeɪt/Received-Pronunciation/ˈpɹɑːflɪɡeɪt/US
  1. To drive away; to overcome.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

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.

verb/ˈpɹɒflɪɡeɪt/Received-Pronunciation/ˈpɹɑːflɪɡeɪt/US
  1. Obsolete form of profligated (past participle of profligate): profligated: routed, overcome, driven away.

    alt-of · obsolete
Where this word comes from

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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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.