profligacy.

1. Careless or extravagant spending and consumption of money or other resources.

2. Conduct judged to show a serious lack of moral restraint, especially in pursuit of pleasure.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• financial profligacy
• public profligacy
• a reputation for profligacy

On the page

The estate’s debts revealed a profligacy his modest clothes had concealed.

The report attacked the project’s profligacy rather than its ambition.

Usage notes

Primary category: psychological / character. Forms: Usually uncountable. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings.