as in wasteful
given to spending money freely or foolishly
the nightclub's ridiculous prices seem geared to squandering revelers with more money than sense
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as in wastefulness
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1
as in spending
to use up carelessly
squandered all her money gambling in casinos
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in dispersing
to cause (members of a group) to move widely apart
a single blast of the shotgun squandered the herd of deer
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Recent Examples of squandering
Sally Jenkins, The Atlantic, 5 Feb. 2026
Kiké Hernández followed with a flyout to complete the squandering.
—Fabian Ardaya, New York Times, 4 Sep. 2025
Ryan Morik Outkick, FOXNews.com, 6 June 2026
So this also is a big, fat L for the Bears, which overplayed its hand and mismanaged the entire process, squandering all kinds of good will in the process.
—The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 1 June 2026
The military rulers who seized power in 1966 would use that failure as a pretext to maintain their hold on power, accusing the civilian government of corruption and squandering the nation’s wealth.
—ABC News, 31 May 2026
John Woods, Lombard Odier’s Asia chief investment officer, warned that many families risk squandering wealth without stronger governance and planning frameworks.
—Lee Ying Shan, CNBC, 29 May 2026
Some CEOs are using tokens to track how their teams are deploying AI, from the productive tokenmaxers overhauling their departments to the tone-deaf dabblers squandering compute on useless projects.
—Diane Brady, Fortune, 20 May 2026
And with the loss, the Dodgers (29-19) fell half a game back of the Padres (29-18), after squandering two separate opportunities with speedy Hyeseong Kim standing on third base with two out, and stranding men on first and second in the ninth.
—Maddie Lee, Los Angeles Times, 19 May 2026
Houston looked good from the start in this one after squandering a six-point lead in the final 26 seconds of regulation in a devastating 112-108 overtime loss Friday night.
—CBS News, 27 Apr. 2026
The gravity of the Game 2 loss, squandering homecourt advantage, is finally clobbering them over the head.
—Troy Renck, Denver Post, 26 Apr. 2026
Noun
This is the sort of managerial aimlessness the Post is being governed by, just one example of the missteps and squandering of opportunity framed as strategy.
—Sally Jenkins, The Atlantic, 5 Feb. 2026
Kiké Hernández followed with a flyout to complete the squandering.
—Fabian Ardaya, New York Times, 4 Sep. 2025
Verb
San Antonio was down by 14 midway through the final quarter, after already squandering a double-digit lead of its own, then went on a 14-0 run to tie the game, then briefly took the lead when Wembanyama had a three-point play with just under a minute left.
—Ryan Morik Outkick, FOXNews.com, 6 June 2026
So this also is a big, fat L for the Bears, which overplayed its hand and mismanaged the entire process, squandering all kinds of good will in the process.
—The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 1 June 2026
The military rulers who seized power in 1966 would use that failure as a pretext to maintain their hold on power, accusing the civilian government of corruption and squandering the nation’s wealth.
—ABC News, 31 May 2026
John Woods, Lombard Odier’s Asia chief investment officer, warned that many families risk squandering wealth without stronger governance and planning frameworks.
—Lee Ying Shan, CNBC, 29 May 2026
Some CEOs are using tokens to track how their teams are deploying AI, from the productive tokenmaxers overhauling their departments to the tone-deaf dabblers squandering compute on useless projects.
—Diane Brady, Fortune, 20 May 2026
And with the loss, the Dodgers (29-19) fell half a game back of the Padres (29-18), after squandering two separate opportunities with speedy Hyeseong Kim standing on third base with two out, and stranding men on first and second in the ninth.
—Maddie Lee, Los Angeles Times, 19 May 2026
Houston looked good from the start in this one after squandering a six-point lead in the final 26 seconds of regulation in a devastating 112-108 overtime loss Friday night.
—CBS News, 27 Apr. 2026
The gravity of the Game 2 loss, squandering homecourt advantage, is finally clobbering them over the head.
—Troy Renck, Denver Post, 26 Apr. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for squandering
Adjective
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When your reality diverges from that narrative, participating can feel not only emotionally painful, but financially wasteful.—
Rebecca Soffer,
Time,
4 Dec. 2025
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The industry’s current model is highly wasteful, with roughly 20 to 30 percent of apparel produced being shredded or landfilled without ever reaching the end consumer.—
Sarah Jones,
Sourcing Journal,
1 Dec. 2025
Noun
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Sure enough, Spurs’ wastefulness was punished.—
Jack Pitt-Brooke,
New York Times,
12 May 2026
-
Gabriel also acknowledged lawmakers’ responsibility to oversee state spending seriously as well, and would be scrutinizing government programs for wastefulness.—
Andrew Graham,
Sacbee.com,
13 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
Roughly 20% to 30% of operating expenses will come from spending on agents versus humans in the next three to four years, according to a new report summarizing the views of C-suite leaders from consultancy Bain & Company.—
Rachyl Jones,
semafor.com,
10 June 2026
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Cardholders also earn 2,500 bonus miles when spending $10,000 each calendar year.—
Andreina Rodriguez,
CNBC,
10 June 2026
Verb
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Chemical sunscreens, however, are designed to soak into the skin and work by creating a chemical reaction that absorbs ultraviolet radiation as energy, dispersing it as heat.—
Sandee LaMotte,
CNN Money,
9 June 2026
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But instead of quietly dispersing, patrons and neighborhood residents resisted, sparking several nights of demonstrations that crystallized growing frustration with discrimination and police harassment.—
Diana Rodriguez,
Time,
8 June 2026
Noun
-
Control was wrested back towards the end of the period, a sign of better things to come, even if that profligacy that has dogged them so much reared once again in stoppage time at the end of the half.—
Matt Woosnam,
New York Times,
28 May 2026
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Such profligacy slows real income growth, deters hiring, discourages innovation and drives up interest rates.—
Bloomberg Opinion,
Twin Cities,
29 Mar. 2026
Verb
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The reigning Super Bowl champions still hold a two-game advantage in the NFC East standings and will look to stop their losing skid in Week 14.—
Matt Audilet,
MSNBC Newsweek,
9 Dec. 2025
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Ertz has 50 catches for 504 yards and four touchdowns this season — all of which rank second on the team, which is 3-10 after losing eight games in a row.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
8 Dec. 2025
Noun
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In contrast to the existing HBM products which rely on an indirect cooling method that draws heat away through the core die, the iHBM solution places ICEs on top of the D2D PHY region, thus creating an additional heat dissipation pathway for reducing the thermal load.—
Aditya Jadhav,
Interesting Engineering,
27 May 2026
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To measure overall turbulence, Turbli used a metric called the eddy dissipation rate, or EDR, to assign turbulence level scores.—
Michael Cappetta,
Travel + Leisure,
12 May 2026
Verb
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Without their captain Alphonso Davies, who is nursing a hamstring injury, and with Jonathan David wasting a fine chance to score in the first half, Canada were up against it.—
Amy Lawrence,
New York Times,
12 June 2026
-
The 2024 Current Obesity Reports review independently found no consistent signal of greater muscle wasting in people who cycled versus those who stayed at a stable higher weight.—
Allison Palmer,
Miami Herald,
11 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Squandering.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/squandering. Accessed 18 Jun. 2026.
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