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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While small compared to what the RTA has spent on lobbying efforts, the spendthrifts at the CTA don’t put much confidence in how any of the agencies would spend dwindling amounts of Illinois tax dollars if lawmakers hold them back from the looming fiscal precipice.—
Charles Selle,
Chicago Tribune,
26 Mar. 2025
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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
Noun
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The food today is extraordinarily good and prodigal.—
Jeff Kleinman,
Miami Herald,
1 Apr. 2025
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The discomforts include not just his recent and possibly expedient diagnosis of bipolar disorder but also the return of the other prodigal, Nazareth.—
Jesse Green,
New York Times,
18 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 23 Apr. 2025.
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