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
CBS News, 7 Apr. 2026
The administration of Baltimore County Executive Kathy Klausmeier is following in the footsteps of its predecessor by squandering taxpayers’ money to conceal information from the public that the public has the absolute right to know.
—David Plymyer, Baltimore Sun, 26 Mar. 2026
House Republicans tore into Democrats on Wednesday evening over what several GOP members described as squandering an opportunity to question Attorney General Pam Bondi about her handling of the Epstein files.
—Kaelan Deese, The Washington Examiner, 19 Mar. 2026
The sweeping breadth of the trade probes also risks alienating partners and squandering the goodwill needed to forge a collective response to address Chinese industrial overcapacity, according to experts.
—Anniek Bao, CNBC, 13 Mar. 2026
And yet, overall, the Premier League is squandering this tremendous edge with bad recruitment choices, building unbalanced squads or teams short of experience at huge cost.
—James Horncastle, New York Times, 12 Mar. 2026
In recent weeks, the Lakers had become accustomed to squandering double-digit leads or struggling to spark runs when trailing.
—Benjamin Royer, Oc Register, 4 Mar. 2026
Last week, the wind-power green scam artists were back in federal court, arguing to be permitted to keep squandering billions more on those insane offshore windmills that produce next to no energy, but plenty of pollution.
—Howie Carr, Boston Herald, 1 Feb. 2026
A day after squandering a three-goal lead in a 4-3 overtime loss at Washington, Aho made sure the Hurricanes didn’t blow a 2-0 lead against the Kings.
—Los Angeles Times, 1 Feb. 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
The Giants lost again Monday night, squandering an early four-run lead to the Philadelphia Phillies in a 6-4 setback.
—CBS News, 7 Apr. 2026
The administration of Baltimore County Executive Kathy Klausmeier is following in the footsteps of its predecessor by squandering taxpayers’ money to conceal information from the public that the public has the absolute right to know.
—David Plymyer, Baltimore Sun, 26 Mar. 2026
House Republicans tore into Democrats on Wednesday evening over what several GOP members described as squandering an opportunity to question Attorney General Pam Bondi about her handling of the Epstein files.
—Kaelan Deese, The Washington Examiner, 19 Mar. 2026
The sweeping breadth of the trade probes also risks alienating partners and squandering the goodwill needed to forge a collective response to address Chinese industrial overcapacity, according to experts.
—Anniek Bao, CNBC, 13 Mar. 2026
And yet, overall, the Premier League is squandering this tremendous edge with bad recruitment choices, building unbalanced squads or teams short of experience at huge cost.
—James Horncastle, New York Times, 12 Mar. 2026
In recent weeks, the Lakers had become accustomed to squandering double-digit leads or struggling to spark runs when trailing.
—Benjamin Royer, Oc Register, 4 Mar. 2026
Last week, the wind-power green scam artists were back in federal court, arguing to be permitted to keep squandering billions more on those insane offshore windmills that produce next to no energy, but plenty of pollution.
—Howie Carr, Boston Herald, 1 Feb. 2026
A day after squandering a three-goal lead in a 4-3 overtime loss at Washington, Aho made sure the Hurricanes didn’t blow a 2-0 lead against the Kings.
—Los Angeles Times, 1 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for squandering
Adjective
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So while driving Indy cars 177 miles in a circle may seem wasteful during a gas crunch, Sunday’s race will have a negligible affect on the price and availability of fuel at service stations.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
16 Apr. 2026
-
In 2004, after years of incompetent, wasteful and corrupt agencies obstructing basic and legal public records requests, the California Assembly and Senate voted unanimously to put Proposition 59 before voters.—
U T Editorial Board,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
10 Apr. 2026
Noun
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McGinn wants passes crisp fired into him and, with Villa’s best passer, Youri Tielemans, coming back to full fitness, the previous wastefulness in the final third may be remedied for good.—
Jacob Tanswell,
New York Times,
25 Mar. 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
-
Guro Reiten is sitting inside her apartment in Norway, in between spending time with her 5-month-old son and packing her life away.—
Melanie Anzidei,
New York Times,
23 Apr. 2026
-
After a backlash, Kennedy has also pivoted to spending more time talking about less controversial topics like healthy eating — albeit with his own spin, including sharing exaggerated claims that various ailments can be cured by diet alone.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
22 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
Responding officers found a large group of people dispersing from the area of Mill Street and Chapel Street and were told by passersby that there had been a fight on Chapel Street and that someone had been shot.—
Justin Muszynski,
Hartford Courant,
17 Apr. 2026
-
This prevents seeds from dispersing when a squirrel sits on the feeder.—
Arricca Elin SanSone,
Southern Living,
9 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Such profligacy slows real income growth, deters hiring, discourages innovation and drives up interest rates.—
Editorial,
Boston Herald,
30 Mar. 2026
-
Such profligacy slows real income growth, deters hiring, discourages innovation and drives up interest rates.—
Bloomberg Opinion,
Twin Cities,
29 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
McIlroy at least steadied himself after losing the lead.—
Doug Ferguson,
Chicago Tribune,
12 Apr. 2026
-
The overwhelming grief of losing a child became even worse when a detective gave her a notebook from Audree’s locker.—
Meena Duerson,
CNN Money,
11 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
The cooling technology is much in need of the hour for AI, as traditional heat-dissipation and power-supply architectures are rapidly approaching their physical limits.—
Ameya Paleja,
Interesting Engineering,
17 Apr. 2026
-
Hu adds that θ-phase tantalum nitride could be especially valuable as artificial intelligence gains even more widespread use and heat dissipation becomes a data-center bottleneck.—
Rachel Nuwer,
Scientific American,
11 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
Dunk’s blemishes against Liverpool were compounded by an unfortunate yellow card for time wasting in the closing stages when referee Darren England decided too long had been taken with Verbruggen over a goal kick.—
Andy Naylor,
New York Times,
21 Apr. 2026
-
Many complained about time-wasting technology platforms.—
Zach Helfand,
New Yorker,
20 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Squandering.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/squandering. Accessed 23 Apr. 2026.
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