profligate
- Recklessly extravagant or wasteful with money, resources, or behavior; having no moral restraint.
- As a noun: a person who is recklessly wasteful or shamelessly immoral.
In a sentence
- The profligate spending of the previous administration left the city deeply in debt.
- He led a profligate lifestyle in his twenties, squandering the inheritance within three years.
Usage note. Profligate carries strong moral disapproval; when the context is purely financial, 'extravagant' or 'wasteful' may be less charged alternatives.
Where it comes from
English profligate · entered English mid-16th c.
From Latin profligatus ('ruined, dissolute'), past participle of profligare ('to strike down, ruin'), from pro- ('forward, down') and fligare ('to strike'). It entered English in the mid-16th century, initially emphasizing moral ruin before acquiring its strong sense of financial extravagance.