prodigalise
Definition
- Verb (transitive):
- To spend or use money, resources, or time wastefully or extravagantly; to squander.
- To give or distribute generously or lavishly, often in a way that suggests excess.
Usage Examples
- (He wasted his inheritance on expensive items.)
- (The government should not waste public money.)
- (She used her energy wastefully on unimportant matters.)
Advanced Usage
- "to prodigalise one's talents": to waste or misuse one's natural abilities.
- A gifted musician who prodigalises his talent by refusing to practice. (He wastes his musical gift through neglect.)
- "to prodigalise praise": to give excessive or exaggerated praise.
- The critic prodigalised praise on the mediocre film. (The critic gave overly generous praise.)
Variants and Related Words
- Prodigal (adj): spending money or resources freely and recklessly; wastefully extravagant.
- The prodigal son returned home after wasting his fortune. (The wasteful son came back.)
- Prodigality (n): the quality of being wasteful or extravagant.
- His prodigality led to financial ruin. (His wasteful spending caused bankruptcy.)
- Prodigalize (verb, alternative spelling): same as "prodigalise".
Synonyms
- Squander: to waste something, especially money or opportunity, in a reckless manner.
- Dissipate: to waste or fritter away (money, resources, time) gradually.
- Lavish: to give or spend generously or profusely.
- Fritter: to waste (time or money) on trivial things.
Phrasal Verbs
- Prodigalise away: to waste something completely by spending or using it recklessly.
- He prodigalised away his entire savings on gambling. (He squandered all his savings.)
Related Idioms
- Spend like a sailor on shore leave: to spend money recklessly and extravagantly.
- After winning the lottery, he spent like a sailor on shore leave. (He prodigalised his winnings.)
- Throw money down the drain: to waste money on something useless.
- Buying that broken car was throwing money down the drain. (He prodigalised his money.)