Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The character or condition of being profligate; a profligate or very vicious course of life; abandoned conduct; shameless dissipation.
  • noun Synonyms Shamelessness. See abandoned.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The quality of state of being profligate; a profligate or very vicious course of life; a state of being abandoned in moral principle and in vice; dissoluteness.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun countable Careless wastefulness.
  • noun uncountable Shameless and immoral behaviour.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the trait of spending extravagantly
  • noun dissolute indulgence in sensual pleasure

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

profligate + -y

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Examples

Comments

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  • "Confronted with the twin disasters of climate change and an impending oil peak, it is hard to see how anyone could justify the assertion that the need to drive a car which can accelerate from 0 to 60 miles an hour in 4.5 seconds (the Audi S4 for example) overrides the Ethiopians' need to avoid recurrent famines, or the whole world's need to avoid the economic catastrophe we'll suffer if petroleum peaks too soon. The speed and acceleration of our cars is a form of profligacy at which all future generations will goggle. The main reason why improvements in energy efficiency have been so slow to take effect is that manufacturers insist on sustaining performance."

    - 'Heat', George Monbiot.

    February 19, 2008

  • “McCain's top advisers privately fumed at Palin’s outrageous profligacy.�?

    From Newsweek: http://awurl.com/gIhkcGuDv

    November 6, 2008