prodigal.

1. Spending or using resources lavishly without adequate restraint.

2. A person who spends or gives resources extravagantly, often wastefully.

3. Giving or producing abundantly, sometimes with an implication of excess.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• prodigal spending
• prodigal with money

On the page

His prodigal spending left the household dependent on people he had mocked.

She was prodigal with praise but careful with the money that kept the theatre open.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary. Forms: Comparative more prodigal; superlative most prodigal where gradation is meaningful. Noun singular prodigal; plural prodigals. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings.