Definition

Noun: 1. The quality or fact of being extravagant or wasteful with money or resources: Prodigality refers to the characteristic of spending or using things in an excessively lavish, wasteful, or reckless manner, often beyond what is reasonable or necessary. 2. Extravagant abundance or profusion: In a more literary sense, it can describe an overflowing or lavish abundance of something.

Usage

Prodigality is a formal noun, typically used in contexts discussing finance, economics, character traits, or criticism of wastefulness. It describes a habitual tendency or a specific instance of excessive expenditure.

Examples

• His prodigality with the company's budget eventually led to its bankruptcy.
• The feast was an exercise in sheer prodigality, with enough food for five hundred guests.
• She criticized the government's prodigality in funding unnecessary projects.
• The novel's descriptions are marked by a linguistic prodigality that delights some readers and overwhelms others.

Advanced Usage

• "The prodigality of nature": A phrase used to describe nature's abundant and seemingly wasteful generosity in producing life, seeds, etc.
• "Reckless prodigality": A common collocation emphasizing the careless and irresponsible aspect of the wastefulness.

Variants and Related Words

• Prodigal (adjective): Wastefully extravagant.
• Prodigally (adverb): In a prodigal manner.

Synonyms

• Extravagance
• Wastefulness
• Lavishness
• Profligacy
• Imprudence (in the context of spending)

Antonyms

• Frugality
• Thrift
• Parsimony
• Economy
• Prudence

Idioms and Phrases

• "Prodigality knows no bounds": An expression meaning that someone's wasteful spending or behavior has no limits.
• While not a phrasal verb, the related adjective is central to the idiom "the prodigal son", which refers to a person who leaves home, behaves recklessly, and returns repentant.

Noun

1. excessive spending
2. the trait of spending extravagantly