prodigal
Syllables: pro·dig·al/ˈpɹɒdɪɡəl/US/ˈpɹɑdɪɡəl/
prodigal adjective: wastefully extravagant.
Adjective
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.
- Synonyms:
- lavish, squandering
- Antonyms:
- frugal, abstemious, canny, chary, moderate, cheap, close with a buck, economic, economical, provident
- 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?
- Profuse, lavishly abundant.
- Goe binde thou vp vond dangling Apricocks, / Which like vnruly Children, make their Syre / Stoupe with oppreſſion of their prodigall weight:1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to...
- And one, the reapers at their sultry toil. / In front they bound the sheaves. Behind / Were realms of upland, prodigal in oil, / And hoary to the wind.1832, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, The Palace of Art
- Synonyms:
- inordinate, superabundant, abundant, abounding, ample, aplenty, brimming, copious, galore, generous
- Having (selfishly) abandoned a person, group, or ideal.
- Returning or having returned, especially repentantly, after such an abandonment.
- Simon Hart of the Daily Telegraph has tweeted that the prodigal triple-jumper has come home, in preparation for tomorrow's qualification round.2012 August 12, Paul Owen, “London 2012 Olympics: day 10”, in The Guardian
- I went away to come back / Like a prodigal Christian2025, Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, “EURO-COUNTRY”, performed by CMAT
Noun
prodigal (plural prodigals)
- A prodigal person; a spendthrift; a wastrel.
- Now thinkes he that her husbands ſhallow tongue, / The niggard prodigall that praiſde her ſo: / In that high task hath done her Beauty wrong.1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], →OCLC, signature B3, recto
- Change into extremity is very frequent and easy. As when a beggar suddenly grows rich, he commonly becomes a prodigal; for, to obscure his former obscurity, he puts on riot and excess.1641, Ben Jonson, Timber, or Discoveries made upon men and matter, as they have flowed out of his daily readings, or had their reflux to his peculiar notion of the times; republished as Discoveries...
- Synonyms:
- big spender, dingthrift, neve, overspender, profligate, saprophage, scattergood, slipstring, slipthrift, sparkler
prodigal meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Telugu
prodigal in Tamil
- தனமான, மீச்செலவாளி, வீண் செலவாண
prodigal in Urdu
- فضول خرچ
prodigal in Bengali
- অমিতব্যয়ী
prodigal in Telugu
- a prodigal
- ఉల్లాసపురుషుడు ullāsapuruṣuḍu
More languagesFewer languages
- prodigal in Malayalam
- ധൂർത്ത dhūṟtta
- prodigal in Kannada
- ದುರ್ಮಾರ್ಗದಿಂದ ಸನ್ಮಾರ್ಗಕ್ಕೆ ಹಿಂದಿರುಗುವವನು, ಹಣ ಪೋಲುಮಾಡುವವ, ಹಾಳು ಮಾಡುವವ, ಕೊಡುಗಯ್ಯ
- prodigal in Tagalog
- masakmata
- prodigal in Arabic
- مُسْرِف musrif
- prodigal in Malay
- pemboros
- prodigal in Persian
- ولخرج velxarj
Examples of prodigal in a sentence
- 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;...1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXIII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to...
- He was a prodigal server and piled about two pounds of meat on my plate, then he started on the Yorkshire puddings.1974, James Herriot, Vet in Harness, page 201:
Synonyms of prodigal
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
10 more antonymsFewer antonyms
Forms of prodigal
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more prodigal |
| superlative | most prodigal |
| Noun | |
| plural | prodigals |
Origin of prodigal
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 unrelated prodigy. The senses of "abandoning a person or cause" and "returning after abandonment" are by allusion to the New Testament story commonly called "The Parable of the Prodigal Son", Luke 15:11–32. See prodigal son.
Words formed from prodigal
Phrases with prodigal
Questions about prodigal
- What does prodigal mean?
- Prodigal means wastefully extravagant.
- What is prodigal in Tamil?
- Prodigal in Tamil is தனமான, மீச்செலவாளி, வீண் செலவாண. See Prodigal meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use prodigal in a sentence?
- 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;...
- What part of speech is prodigal?
- Prodigal can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce prodigal?
- Prodigal is pronounced /ˈpɹɒdɪɡəl/ (UK).
Words near prodigal in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: prodigal (page history and authors); prodigal (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); prodigal (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); prodigal (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ఉల్లాసపురుషుడు (Telugu) (page history and authors); prodigal (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “prodigal.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/prodigal. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.