profligacy

noun

prof·​li·​ga·​cy ˈprä-fli-gə-sē How to pronounce profligacy (audio)
: the quality or state of being profligate

Examples of profligacy in a Sentence

a religious leader who railed against the profligacy of the nation's decadent aristocrats
Recent Examples on the Web Both unions have convincingly declared victory, but, after years of reliance on boom-time profligacy, the industry is bracing for a downturn in the quantity—and perhaps the quality—of its output. Inkoo Kang, The New Yorker, 10 Dec. 2023 The team was eventually made to pay for its profligacy in front of goal as Real Madrid caught Leipzig on the counterattack after 65 minutes, with Jude Bellingham bursting forward and setting up Vinícius Jr. for an emphatic finish. Matias Grez, CNN, 7 Mar. 2024 United’s collapse in performance has coincided with one of the biggest talent acquisitions sprees in its history, and untangling that profligacy has left the club poorly positioned to meet the league’s spending limits. Tariq Panja, New York Times, 22 Feb. 2024 So much neon and noise, plastic and profligacy—is this what growth looks like? South Korea, one of the Asian Tigers, is a star of developmental economics. E. Tammy Kim, The New Yorker, 1 Feb. 2024 The company’s $9 billion valuation in an October 2021 deal — one of the biggest mergers by enterprise value at the time — exemplified the profligacy of a near-zero interest rate environment. Bailey Lipschultz, Fortune, 7 Nov. 2023 Some recent scholarship has challenged Nero’s reputation for profligacy, suggesting that he was portrayed by ancient historians as a villain, accused of playing a lyre while Rome burned in A.D. 64. Elisabetta Povoledo, New York Times, 30 July 2023 That strange, reckless profligacy made Barb think of their mother, who in her final years sat at home, saying yes to every sales phone call. Robert Kolker, New York Times, 20 July 2023 After years of being criticized for profligacy, and decades of agglomerating processes, IFIs are incredibly bureaucratic, demanding enormous amounts of data. WIRED, 10 July 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'profligacy.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1738, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of profligacy was in 1738

Dictionary Entries Near profligacy

Cite this Entry

“Profligacy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/profligacy. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

profligacy

noun
prof·​li·​ga·​cy ˈpräf-li-gə-sē How to pronounce profligacy (audio)
: the quality or state of being profligate

More from Merriam-Webster on profligacy

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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