as in spendthrift
someone who spends money freely or foolishly
the black sheep of the family, he ended up being a wastrel and a drunkard
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of wastrel
The aforementioned wastrel friend, now a drug dealer, asks Mike to do him a favor: Deliver a briefcase of pot to a hotel room.
—
Time, 11 Aug. 2023
The always-entertaining Bruce Turk steals all his scenes as Ranevskaya’s spoiled and wastrel brother, Leonid Gayev.
—Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 Mar. 2023
Selby is a wastrel with a criminal past, yet his mother keeps providing him with soft places to fall.
—Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 3 Mar. 2023
Even in 1997, everyone looks pretty good for a bunch of wastrel rockers, whose intersecting trajectories are spun through the early chapters.
—John Anderson, WSJ, 2 Mar. 2023
See All Example Sentences for wastrel
Time, 11 Aug. 2023
The always-entertaining Bruce Turk steals all his scenes as Ranevskaya’s spoiled and wastrel brother, Leonid Gayev.
—Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 Mar. 2023
Selby is a wastrel with a criminal past, yet his mother keeps providing him with soft places to fall.
—Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 3 Mar. 2023
Even in 1997, everyone looks pretty good for a bunch of wastrel rockers, whose intersecting trajectories are spun through the early chapters.
—John Anderson, WSJ, 2 Mar. 2023
See All Example Sentences for wastrel
Recent Examples of Synonyms for wastrel
Noun
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Most states allow spendthrift trusts, but some limit the amount of principal that can be protected.—
Bob Carlson,
Forbes,
13 Mar. 2025
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The Bucs came through three spendthrift seasons with Tom Brady, winning Super Bowl 55 then trying to defend that title, which proved unsuccessful.—
Rick Stroud,
Orlando Sentinel,
5 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Having blown into town as a returned prodigal, Jérémie seems to be on his way to becoming a surrogate son.—
Richard Brody,
The New Yorker,
21 Mar. 2025
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Jérémie stays on as a guest of the baker’s widow (Catherine Frot), but her son (Jean-Baptiste Durand) resents the prodigal’s return.—
Helen Shaw,
The New Yorker,
14 Mar. 2025
Noun
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For example, default settings for focus time added blocking of sites in the categories Shopping, Tabloids, and Time wasters.—
PCMAG,
PCMAG,
13 Jan. 2025
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Photo: Brown Harris Stevens Above the bedroom is a double-height library, which turns the sloping ceiling behind a mansard roof into a design feature rather than a space waster.—
Adriane Quinlan,
Curbed,
24 Oct. 2024
Cite this Entry
“Wastrel.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/wastrel. Accessed 3 Apr. 2025.
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