prodigal

From Middle French prodigal, from Late Latin prōdigālis (“wasteful”), from Latin prōdigus (“wasteful, lavish, prodigal”), from prōdigō (“to consume, squander, drive forth”), from prōd- + agō (“to drive”). Also see prodigy.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɒdɪɡəl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɑdɪɡəl/,
• Hyphenation: pro‧dig‧al

prodigal (comparative more prodigal, superlative most prodigal)

1. Wastefully extravagant.

   Synonyms: lavish, squandering; see also Thesaurus:prodigal

   Antonyms: frugal; see also Thesaurus:frugal

   He found himself guilty of prodigal spending during the holidays.

   The prodigal son spent his share of his inheritance until he was destitute.

   • 1834, L E L, chapter XXIII, in Francesca Carrara.  In Three Volumes.">…], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, , (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 257:

     The prodigal heir can only waste his own substance, and the punishment falls, as it should, upon himself; but the prince has an awful responsibility,—the welfare of others is required at his hands;...

2. (often followed by of or with) Yielding profusely, lavish.

   Synonyms: free, generous, liberal

   She was a merry person, glad and prodigal of smiles.

   How can he be so prodigal with money on such a tight budget?

   • 1911, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 10, page 63:

     He generally falls backwards and sometimes succumbs to the fever which ensues; hence as soon as the ordeal is over the women are prodigal of their attentions to him, and rub the swollen arm with a particular kind of herb.

   • 1974, James Herriot, Vet in Harness, page 201:

     Granville poised himself over a vast sirloin, stropped his knife briskly, then began to hack away ruthlessly. He was a prodigal server and piled about two pounds of meat on my plate, then he started on the Yorkshire puddings.

3. Profuse, lavishly abundant.

   Synonyms: inordinate, superabundant; see also Thesaurus:abundant, Thesaurus:excessive

   • 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 37, column 2:

     Goe binde thou vp vond dangling Apricocks, / Which like vnruly Children, make their Syre / Stoupe with oppreſſion of their prodigall weight:

   • 1832, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, The Palace of Art:

     And one, the reapers at their sultry toil. / In front they bound the sheaves. Behind / Were realms of upland, prodigal in oil, / And hoary to the wind.

4. (by allusion to the New Testament story commonly called "The Parable of the Prodigal Son", Luke 15:11–32) Behaving as a prodigal son:
   1. Having (selfishly) abandoned a person, group, or ideal.
   2. Returning or having returned, especially repentantly, after such an abandonment.
      • 2012 August 12, Paul Owen, “London 2012 Olympics: day 10”, in The Guardian‎:

        Simon Hart of the Daily Telegraph has tweeted that the prodigal triple-jumper has come home, in preparation for tomorrow's qualification round.

prodigal (plural prodigals)

1. A prodigal person; a spendthrift; a wastrel.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:spendthrift

   • 1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, ">…], →OCLC, signature B3, recto:

     Now thinkes he that her husbands ſhallow tongue, / The niggard prodigall that praiſde her ſo: / In that high task hath done her Beauty wrong.

   • 1641, Ben Jonson, Timber, or Discoveries made upon men and matter, as they have flowed out of his daily readings, or had their reflux to his peculiar notion of the times; republished as Discoveries Made Upon Men and Matter and Some Poems‎, Cassell & Company, 1892:

     Change into extremity is very frequent and easy. As when a beggar suddenly grows rich, he commonly becomes a prodigal; for, to obscure his former obscurity, he puts on riot and excess.

• “prodigal”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E Smith, editors (1911), “prodigal”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “prodigal”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.