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Definition of profligacy - 3 dictionary results

prof⋅li⋅ga⋅cy

  [prof-li-guh-see]
Use profligacy in a Sentence
–noun
1. shameless dissoluteness.
2. reckless extravagance.
3. great abundance.
Origin:
1730–40; proflig(ate) + -acy
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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prof·li·gate   (prŏf'lĭ-gĭt, -gāt')   
adj.  
  1. Given over to dissipation; dissolute.
  2. Recklessly wasteful; wildly extravagant.
n.  A profligate person; a wastrel.

[Latin prōflīgātus, past participle of prōflīgāre, to ruin, cast down : prō-, forward; see pro-1 + -flīgāre, intensive of flīgere, to strike down.]
prof'li·ga·cy (-gə-sē) n., prof'li·gate·ly adv.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Profligacy

Prof"li*ga*cy\, n. [See Profligate, a.] The quality of state of being profligate; a profligate or very vicious course of life; a state of being abandoned in moral principle and in vice; dissoluteness.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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