profligate.

1. Using money, resources, or opportunities with extreme disregard for restraint.

2. Indulging in conduct regarded as grossly immoral or lacking moral restraint.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• profligate spending
• profligate use of resources

On the page

Profligate spending continued while the roof above the tenants leaked.

The report criticized the company’s profligate use of fresh water.

Usage notes

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