prodigality (n.)

"quality of being prodigal; reckless extravagance in expenditure," mid-14c., prodigalite, from Old French prodigalite (13c., Modern French prodigalité) and directly from Medieval Latin prodigalitatem (nominative prodigalitas) "wastefulness," from Latin *prodigalis, from prodigus "wasteful" (see prodigal).

also from mid-14c.

Entries linking to prodigality

prodigal (adj.)

c. 1500, of persons, "given to extravagant expenditure, lavish, wasteful," a back-formation from prodigality, or else from French prodigal and directly from Late Latin prodigalis, from Latin prodigus "wasteful," from prodigere "drive away, waste," from pro "forth" (from PIE root *per- (1) "forward") + agere "to set in motion, drive; to do, perform" (from PIE root *ag- "to drive, draw out or forth, move").

Most often in prodigal son (Vulgate Latin filius prodigus) from the parable told in Luke xv.11-32. The meaning "very liberal, lavishly bountiful" is by 1590s. As a noun, "prodigal person, one who expends money lavishly and without necessity," 1590s, from the adjective (the Latin adjective also was used as a noun). Related: Prodigially.

Trends of prodigality

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.

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largesse

In medieval theology, "the virtue whose opposite is avarice, and whose excess is prodigality" [The Middle English Compendium...

sweat

Middle English sweten, from Old English swætan "perspire, excrete moisture from the skin," also "toil, labor, work hard," from Proto-Germanic *swaitjan "to sweat," from the source of sweat (n.). Compare Frisian swette, Dutch zweeten, Danish svede, German schwitzen. The meaning "b

dissipation

early 15c., dissipacioun, "disintegration, dissolution," from Latin dissipationem (nominative dissipatio) "a scattering," noun of action from past-participle stem of dissipare "to spread abroad, scatter, disperse; squander, disintegrate" (see dissipate). Sense of "act of wasting

high

Old English heh (Anglian), heah (West Saxon) "of great height, tall, conspicuously elevated; lofty, exalted, high-class," from Proto-Germanic *hauha- (source also of Old Saxon hoh, Old Norse har, Danish høi, Swedish hög, Old Frisian hach, Dutch hoog, Old High German hoh, German h

life

Old English life (dative lif) "animated corporeal existence; lifetime, period between birth and death; the history of an individual from birth to death, written account of a person's life; way of life (good or bad); condition of being a living thing, opposite of death; spiritual

element

c. 1300, "earth, air, fire, or water; one of the four things regarded by the ancients as the constituents of all things," from Old French element (10c.), from Latin elementum "rudiment, first principle, matter in its most basic form" (translating Greek stoikheion), origin and ori

apply

late 14c., "join or combine (with); attach (to something), adhere," from Old French aploiier "apply, use, attach" (12c., Modern French appliquer), from Latin applicare "attach to, join, connect;" figuratively, "devote (oneself) to, give attention," from ad "to" (see ad-) + plicar

patience

c. 1200, pacience, "quality of being willing to bear adversities, calm endurance of misfortune, suffering, etc.," from Old French pacience "patience; sufferance, permission" (12c.) and directly from Latin patientia "the quality of suffering or enduring; submission," also "indulge

contrive

early 14c., controve, contreve, "to invent, devise, plan;" late 14c., "to manage by a plan or scheme," from Old French controver (Modern French controuver) "to find out, contrive, imagine," from Late Latin contropare "to compare" (via a figure of speech), from an assimilated form

dismal

c. 1400, "unlucky, inauspicious," in dismal day, earlier as a noun, in the dismal (c. 1300) "in days of misfortune or disaster, under inauspicious circumstances, at an unlucky time," from Anglo-French dismal (mid-13c.), apparently from Old French (li) dis mals "(the) bad days," f

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updated on November 29, 2020

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Dictionary entries near prodigality

procurement

procurer

Procyon

prod

prodigal

prodigality

prodigious

prodigy

prodromal

prodrome

produce