profligate Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun a dissolute man in fashionable society
rake; rip; rakehell; blood; roue.
noun a recklessly extravagant consumer
prodigal; squanderer.
adjective satellite recklessly wasteful
prodigal; spendthrift; extravagant.
- prodigal in their expenditures
adjective satellite unrestrained by convention or morality
debauched; libertine; dissolute; fast; degenerate; degraded; dissipated; riotous.
- Congreve draws a debauched aristocratic society
- deplorably dissipated and degraded
- riotous living
- fast women

L. profligatus, p. p. of profligare to strike or dash to the ground, to destroy; pro before + a word akin to fligere to strike. See Afflict.

Overthrown; beaten; conquered. Obs.
The foe is profligate, and run. Hudibras.
Broken down in respect of rectitude, principle, virtue, or decency; openly and shamelessly immoral or vicious; dissolute; as, profligate man or wretch.
A race more profligate than we. Roscommon.

Made prostitute and profligate muse. Dryden.
Syn. -- Abandoned; corrupt; dissolute; vitiated; depraved; vicious; wicked. See Abandoned.

An abandoned person; one openly and shamelessly vicious; a dissolute person. "Such a profligate as Antony." Swift.