profligacy

noun

prof·​li·​ga·​cy ˈprä-fli-gə-sē 

: the quality or state of being profligate

Synonyms

• corruption
• debauchery
• depravity
• immorality
• iniquitousness
• iniquity
• libertinage
• libertinism
• licentiousness
• sin
• vice

Examples of profligacy in a Sentence

a religious leader who railed against the profligacy of the nation's decadent aristocrats

Recent Examples on the Web

For stock investors, surging yields due to fiscal profligacy (as opposed to strong economic growth) would likely weigh on the stock market. —David Faris, Newsweek, 4 Nov. 2024

Getty Images These extremely high public debt burdens are not due to fiscal profligacy. —Courtney Lindsay, WIRED, 13 July 2024

Weakness in French sovereign bonds has spilled over to Italy — Europe’s original poster child for fiscal profligacy. —Eleanor Pringle, Fortune Europe, 28 June 2024

But the sound advice offered by Karlin and Wittes—to end extravagant and open-ended commitments to allies in the Middle East in order to reduce reckless behavior and U.S. exposure to its consequences—will never be followed if U.S. profligacy toward Israel is treated as unmentionable. —Robert Satloff, Foreign Affairs, 16 Apr. 2019

Word History

First Known Use

1738, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

profligacy

noun

prof·​li·​ga·​cy ˈpräf-li-gə-sē 

: the quality or state of being profligate