Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- adj. Rashly or wastefully extravagant: prodigal expenditures on unneeded weaponry; a prodigal life.
- adj. Giving or given in abundance; lavish or profuse: prodigal praise. See Synonyms at profuse.
- n. One who is given to wasteful luxury or extravagance.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- adj. wastefully extravagant.
- adj. someone yielding profusely, lavish
- adj. profuse, lavishly abundant
- adj. returning after abandoning a person, group, or ideal, especially for selfish reasons; being a prodigal son.
- n. A prodigal person, a spendthrift.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- adj. Given to extravagant expenditure; expending money or other things without necessity; recklessly or viciously profuse; lavish; wasteful; not frugal or economical
- n. One who expends money extravagantly, viciously, or without necessity; one that is profuse or lavish in any expenditure; a waster; a spendthrift.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Given to extravagant expenditure; expending money or other property without necessity; profuse; lavish; wasteful: said of persons: as, a prodigal man; the prodigal son.
- Profuse; lavish; wasteful: said of things: as, a prodigal expenditure of money.
- Very liberal; lavishly bountiful: as, nature is prodigal of her gifts.
- Proud.
- n. One who expends money extravagantly or without necessity; one who is profuse or lavish; a waster; a spendthrift.
- n. In civil law. a person of full age for whom, by judicial authority, a curator is appointed, by reason of his inability to attend to his obligations and estate.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adj. recklessly wasteful
- n. a recklessly extravagant consumer
Etymologies
Examples
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"The foogin 'prodigal RETURNS" made me laugh out loud.
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The word prodigal, from Greek , doesn’t mean “wayward”; it means “wastefully extravagant.”
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Yo, bible bashing book dad, your bastard prodigal is a man of science.
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When the prodigal is brought home to his father it is meet that we should make merry and be glad (Luke xv. 32); and when the marriage of the Lamb has come let us be glad and rejoice (Rev. xix.
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume III (Job to Song of Solomon)
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Let it be noticed that this is a thoroughly Calvinistic parable in that the prodigal was a son, and could not lose that relationship.
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If this were the _hired_ class, the prodigal was a sorry specimen of humility.
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The parable of the prodigal is a picture of the latter kind.
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That story of the prodigal is the eternal love message from Him to us.
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The prodigal was a son of the father all the time; but when he preferred
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It not only recalls the prodigal formula of the series 'first iteration -- it improves on that formula in countless clever ways.
Louises commented on the word prodigal
Find out if the old lady approved of this prodigal arrangement
February 19, 2013