ZebraWords.com - The Definition of 'Prodigal', Synonyms of 'Prodigal' & More on 'Prodigal'

1. WordNet® 3.0 (2006)

prodigal
    adj 1: recklessly wasteful; "prodigal in their expenditures"
           [syn: extravagant, prodigal, profligate,
           spendthrift]
    n 1: a recklessly extravagant consumer [syn: prodigal,
         profligate, squanderer]

2. The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Prodigal \Prod"i*gal\, a. [L. prodigus, from prodigere to drive
   forth, to squander away; pro forward, forth + agere to drive;
   cf. F. prodigue. See Agent. ]
   Given to extravagant expenditure; expending money or other
   things without necessity; recklessly or viciously profuse;
   lavish; wasteful; not frugal or economical; as, a prodigal
   man; the prodigal son; prodigal giving; prodigal expenses.
   [1913 Webster]

         In fighting fields [patriots] were prodigal of blood.
                                                  --Dryden.
   [1913 Webster]

   Syn: Profuse; lavish; extravagant; squandering; wasteful. See
        Profuse.
        [1913 Webster]

3. The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Prodigal \Prod"i*gal\, n.
   One who expends money extravagantly, viciously, or without
   necessity; one that is profuse or lavish in any expenditure;
   a waster; a spendthrift. "Noble prodigals of life." --Trench.
   [1913 Webster]

4. Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)

PRODIGAL, civil law, persons. Prodigals were persons who, though of full 
age, were incapable of managing their affairs, and of the obligations which 
attended them, in consequence of their bad conduct, and for whom a curator 
was therefore appointed. 
     2. In Pennsylvania, by act of assembly, an habitual drunkard is 
deprived of the management of his affairs, when he wastes his property, and 
his estate is placed in the bands of a committee.

Thesaurus Results for prodigal:

1. Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

Adamic, abounding, abundant, affluent, aggrandized, alive with, all-sufficing, ample, amplified, aplenty, backsliding, ballyhooed, bibulous, big-time spender, bottomless, bounteous, bountiful, bristling, bursting, carnal, copious, crapulent, crapulous, crawling, crowded, crowding, diffuse, diffusive, disproportionate, dissipative, easy come, easy go, effuse, effusive, epidemic, erring, exaggerated, excessive, exhaustless, exorbitant, extravagant, extreme, exuberant, fallen, fat, fecund, fertile, fleshly, flush, formless, frail, full, galore, generous, gluttonous, grandiloquent, gushing, gushy, high-flown, hyperbolic, immoderate, improvident, impure, in plenty, in profusion, in quantity, incontinent, indulgent, inexhaustible, infirm, inflated, inordinate, intemperate, jam-packed, jammed, lapsed, lavish, liberal, lush, luxuriant, magnified, many, maximal, much, numerous, of easy virtue, opulent, overabundant, overbounteous, overcopious, overdone, overdrawn, overemphasized, overemphatic, overestimated, overexuberant, overflowing, overgenerous, overgreat, overindulgent, overindulging, overlarge, overlavish, overliberal, overluxuriant, overmuch, overnumerous, overplenteous, overplentiful, overplenty, overpopulated, overpopulous, overpraised, overprolific, oversold, overstated, overstressed, overwrought, packed, peccable, penny-wise and pound-foolish, plenitudinous, plenteous, plentiful, plenty, pleonastic, plethoric, populous, postlapsarian, pound-foolish, prevailing, prevalent, prodigal son, productive, profligate, profuse, profusive, proliferating, prolific, puffed, pullulating, rampant, recidivist, recidivistic, reckless, redundant, reiterative, repetitive, replete, rich, rife, riotous, running over, self-indulgent, spend-all, spender, spendthrift, squanderer, squandering, stretched, studded, sumptuous, superabundant, superlative, swarming, swinish, tautologous, teeming, thick, thick as hail, thick with, thick-coming, thriving, thronged, thronging, too much, touted, unangelic, unbridled, unchaste, unclean, unconstrained, uncontrolled, undisciplined, unfrugal, ungodly, ungood, unlimited, unmeasured, unrestrained, unrighteous, unsaintly, unthrifty, unvirtuous, virtueless, wanton, wasteful, waster, wastethrift, wastrel, wayward, weak, wealthy, well-found, well-furnished, well-provided, well-stocked, wholesale

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