prodigal
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Middle French prodigal, from Late Latin prōdigālis (“wasteful”), from Latin prōdigus (“wasteful, lavish, prodigal”), from prōdigō (“to consume, squander, drive forth”), from prōd- [from prō (“before, forward”)] + agō (“to drive”). Also see prodigy.
Pronunciation
[edit]Adjective
[edit]prodigal (comparative more prodigal, superlative most prodigal)
- Wastefully extravagant.
- He found himself guilty of prodigal spending during the holidays.
- The prodigal son spent his share of his inheritance until he was destitute.
- 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXIII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 257:
- The prodigal heir can only waste his own substance, and the punishment falls, as it should, upon himself; but the prince has an awful responsibility,—the welfare of others is required at his hands;...
- (often followed by of or with) Yielding profusely, lavish.
- She was a merry person, glad and prodigal of smiles.
- How can he be so prodigal with money on such a tight budget?
- 1911, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 10, page 63:
- He generally falls backwards and sometimes succumbs to the fever which ensues; hence as soon as the ordeal is over the women are prodigal of their attentions to him, and rub the swollen arm with a particular kind of herb.
- 1974, James Herriot, Vet in Harness, page 201:
- Granville poised himself over a vast sirloin, stropped his knife briskly, then began to hack away ruthlessly. He was a prodigal server and piled about two pounds of meat on my plate, then he started on the Yorkshire puddings.
- Profuse, lavishly abundant.
- (by allusion to the New Testament story commonly called "The Parable of the Prodigal Son", Luke 15:11–32) Behaving as a prodigal son:
- Having (selfishly) abandoned a person, group, or ideal.
- Returning or having returned, especially repentantly, after such an abandonment.
- 2012 August 12, Paul Owen, “London 2012 Olympics: day 10”, in The Guardian[1]:
- Simon Hart of the Daily Telegraph has tweeted that the prodigal triple-jumper has come home, in preparation for tomorrow's qualification round.
Synonyms
[edit]- See also Thesaurus:prodigal
Antonyms
[edit]Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]wastefully extravagant
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lavish
profuse, lavishly abundant
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Noun
[edit]prodigal (plural prodigals)
- A prodigal person; a spendthrift; a wastrel.
Synonyms
[edit]- See also Thesaurus:spendthrift
Translations
[edit]prodigal — see spendthrift
Further reading
[edit]- “prodigal”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “prodigal”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “prodigal”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
Categories:
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *per-
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₂eǵ-
- English terms borrowed from Middle French
- English terms derived from Middle French
- English terms derived from Late Latin
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
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- English nouns
- English countable nouns
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