prodigal

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈprɑdɪɡəl/ UK /ˈprɒdɪɡl/ See IPA manual

adj noun

Meanings

1

adj
recklessly wasteful or extravagant with resources

His prodigal spending soon exhausted the inheritance.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · recklessly wasteful or... wasteful extravagant profligate spendthrift improvident lavish squandering

Opposites

frugal thrifty economical parsimonious

Word family

Derived forms prodigallyprodigality

Related forms prodigality

Etymology

From Latin prodigus ('wasteful, lavish'), from prodigere ('to drive forth, squander'), from prod- (variant of pro- 'forth') + agere ('to drive').

prodigus Latin prodigere Latin agere Latin

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Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

# prodigal

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj, noun
**IPA (US):** ˈprɑdɪɡəl
**IPA (UK):** ˈprɒdɪɡl

## Meanings
1. recklessly wasteful or extravagant with resources

## Examples
- His prodigal spending soon exhausted the inheritance.

## Synonyms
- wasteful
- extravagant
- profligate
- spendthrift
- improvident
- lavish
- squandering

## Antonyms
- frugal
- thrifty
- economical
- parsimonious

## Derived Forms
- prodigally
- prodigality

## Related Forms
- prodigality

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: prodigus
- Root: prodigere
- Root: agere

## Etymology
From Latin prodigus ('wasteful, lavish'), from prodigere ('to drive forth, squander'), from prod- (variant of pro- 'forth') + agere ('to drive').

## AI Etymology
Prodigal is from Latin prodigus ('wasteful, lavish'), from prodigere ('to drive forth, squander'), from prod- (variant of pro- 'forth') + agere ('to drive'). Important recorded forms include prodigus (Latin), prodigere (Latin), and agere (Latin). Morphologically, the word is a built form whose named elements carry part of the historical sense. The current sense covers recklessly wasteful or extravagant with resources. The wider family includes derived forms such as prodigally and prodigality and related words such as prodigality.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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