profligacy

noun

prof·li·ga·cy | \ ˈprä-fli-gə-sē

How to pronounce profligacy (audio)

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Definition of profligacy

: the quality or state of being profligate

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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 It’s a question being posed more these days, and not just by Republicans, who have miraculously rediscovered their fiscal rectitude after four years of budgetary profligacy. — Larry Edelman, BostonGlobe.com, "Biden’s COVID relief package is flawed. But we can’t afford to wait for perfection," 10 Feb. 2021 People often identify holiday profligacy as a modern problem, hastened by malls and chain stores and online shopping. — Amanda Mull, The Atlantic, "Christmas Must Go On," 23 Nov. 2020 Magic Leap executives consistently bristled at reports of the company’s profligacy over the years, saying rivals were actually spending more but obscuring their projects deep within massive balance sheets. — Fortune, "Magic Leap tried to create an alternate reality. Its founder was already in one," 26 Sep. 2020 With such big-budget TV buys, profligacy was often the point. — Mac Schwerin, The Atlantic, "The Dying Art Form of the TV Commercial," 24 Aug. 2020 The Jazz continued their bubble shooting profligacy by making 20 threes on Wednesday night, easily breaking their playoff 3-point shooting record of 16 threes. — Andy Larsen, The Salt Lake Tribune, "Jazz set franchise 3-point playoff record against Nuggets — by the third quarter," 20 Aug. 2020 Caligula, the Roman emperor best known for his profligacy, sadism, rumored incestuous relationships and unhealthy obsession with a horse, wasn’t exactly handsome. — Meilan Solly, Smithsonian Magazine, "Peer Into the Past With Photorealistic Portraits of Roman Emperors," 13 Aug. 2020 Bill Cassidy, Louisiana's other Republican senator, has devised legislation to help states cope with cash shortages due to the pandemic but block the money from being used to rescue them from their fiscal profligacy. — Jay Heflin, Washington Examiner, "Senate Republicans seek state and city aid without rewarding big-spenders Democrats," 13 May 2020 Only two stunning saves and extreme profligacy let them off the hook. — SI.com, "2019 Women's World Cup: Group Stage Summary, Last 16 Draw & What it All Means Looking Ahead," 21 June 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'profligacy.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Last Updated

16 Feb 2021

Cite this Entry

“Profligacy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/profligacy. Accessed 6 Mar. 2021.

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