Prodigal

Definition: Prodigal

Prodigal

Adjective

1. Very generous; "distributed gifts with a lavish hand"; "the critics were lavish in their praise"; "a munificent gift"; "his father gave him a half-dollar and his mother a quarter and he thought them munificent"; "prodigal praise"; "unsparing generosity"; "his unstinted devotion"; "called for unstinting aid to Britain".

2. Recklessly wasteful; "prodigal in their expenditures".

3. Marked by rash extravagance; "led a prodigal life".

Noun

1. A recklessly extravagant consumer.

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "prodigal" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1258. (references)

Literature

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Synonyms: Prodigal

Bad Man

Rou_, rake; Sadist; skeesicks, skeezix; limb; one who has sold himself to the devil, fallen angel, ame damnee, vaurien, mauvais sujet, loose fish, sad dog; rounder; lost sheep, black sheep; castaway, recreant, defaulter; prodigal.

Inactivity

Phrase: the eyes begin to draw straws; "bankrupt of life yet prodigal of ease"; " better years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay"; "idly busy rolls their world away "; "the mystery of folded sleep"; "the timely dew of sleep"; "thou driftest gently down the tides of sleep"; "tired Nature's sweet restorer, balmy sleep".

Penitence

Penitent, repentant, Magdalen, prodigal son, "a sadder and a wiser man".

Prodigality

Verb: be prodigal; Adjective: squander, lavish, sow broadcast; pour forth like water; blow, blow in; pay through the nose; (dear); spill, waste, dissipate, exhaust, drain, eat out of house and home, overdraw, outrun the constable; run out, run through; misspend; throw good money after bad, throw the helve after the hatchet; burn the candle at both ends; make ducks and drakes of one's money; fool away one's money, potter away one's money, muddle away one's money, fritter away one's money, throw away one's money, run through one's money; pour water into a sieve, kill the goose that lays the golden eggs; manger son ble en herbe.

Prodigal; spendthrift, waste thrift; losel, squanderer, locust; high roller.

Adjective: prodigal, profuse, thriftless, unthrifty, improvident, wasteful, losel, extravagant, lavish, dissipated, overliberal; full-handed; (liberal).

Redundancy

Adjective: redundant; too much, too many; exuberant, inordinate, superabundant, excessive, overmuch, replete, profuse, lavish; prodigal; exorbitant; overweening; extravagant; overcharged; Verb: supersaturated, drenched, overflowing; running over, running to waste, running down.

Crosswords: Prodigal

The prodigal roommate arrives! (A Beautiful Mind; writing credit: Akiva Goldsman)

The prodigal returns. (Six Feet Under; writing credit: David Starkey)

Well, the prodigal brother. (The Searchers; writing credit: Frank S. Nugent)

Part I Awaiting the Return of the Prodigal at the Pavilion (1960)

The Prodigal (1955)

A Prodigal Bridegroom (1926)

Walter the Prodigal (1926)

The Prodigal Pup (1924)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Books

• Prodigal Son/Elder Brother: Interpretation and Alterity in Augustine, Petrarch, Kafka, Levinas (Religion and Postmodernism) (reference)

• Murillo's Allegories of Salvation and Triumph: The Parable of the Prodigal Son and the Life of Jacob (reference)

• Prodigal Son: Dancing for Balanchine in a World of Pain and Magic (reference)

• The Prodigal Daughter: A Biography of Sherwood Bonner (Southern Literary Studies) (reference)

• Three Complete Novels of Courtly Love: The Prude and the Prodigal, Lies for Love, from Hate to Love (reference)

  (more book examples)

Theater & Movies

• The Prodigal Boxer: The Kick of Death (reference)

• The Prodigal Son (reference)

• Miami Vice 2: The Prodigal Son (reference)

• The Beginner's Bible: The Story of the Prodigal Son (reference)

• The Prodigal Planet (reference)

  (more DVD examples; more video examples)

Music

• Alfvén: The Prodigal Son Suite/Symphony No. 2 (reference)

• Prokoviev: Prodigal son/Symphony 4 (reference)

• Prodigal Son (reference)

  (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The returned prodigal shows signs of relapse : Old Observer (who has several other aliases)--"what is the fatted calf to a party that has eaten husks for twenty years. Give him the whole herd". Credit: Library of Congress.

Prodigal Pinchot. Credit: Library of Congress.

The funny farce comedy, The prodigal father. Credit: Library of Congress.

Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Expressions using "prodigal": Husks of the prodigal son ♦ prodigal of ♦ prodigal son ♦ the prodigal son. Additional references.

Ending with "prodigal": not-so-prodigal.

Albanian

prishanik (extravagant, spender, spendthrift, thriftless), shkapërdar (wasteful, waster), i penduar (contrite, penitent, regretful, remorseful, repentant), i pakursyer (unsparing, unthrifty), dorëlëshuar (profuse, thriftless). (various references)

Arabic 

‏منفق بسخاء, ‏مسرف (extravagant, improvident, intemperate, ladle, lavish, loud, profligate, profuse, thriftless, towering, ultra, wanton, wasteful), ‏مبذر (extravagant, lavish, profligate, profuse, spendthrift, squanderer, thriftless, wasteful), ‏وافر النماء (luxuriant), ‏سخي (bounteous, freehanded, generous, lavish, liberal, munificent, noble-minded, open, open handed, princely, rich, well-paid), ‏خصب (fat, fecund, fertile, fertility, fruitful, lush, pregnant, prodigality, productive, profuse, prolific, rich), ‏شخص مبذر. (various references)

Bulgarian 

разсипник (wastrel), разточителен (extravagant, improvident, lavish, luxurious, profligate, profuse, spendthrift, sumptuous, superfluous, thriftless, uneconomic, unsparing, unthrifty, wanton, wasteful), щедър (benevolent, bountiful, charitable, flush, free, freehanded, generous, handsome, large handed, large-hearted, liberal, lordly, munificent, openhanded, pickwickian, princely, profuse, stintless, ungrudging, unselfish, unsparing, unstinted), богат (abounding, bounteous, fat, full, generous, halcyon, heavy, high, lordly, luxuriant, mellow, moneyed, opulent, plenteous, podded, pregnant, princely, profuse, prolific, rank, rich, silk stocking, slap up, substantial, wanton, wealthy, well heeled, well off, well-fixed), блуден син, прахоснически (profligate, squanderingly, thriftless, wasteful), прахосник (profligate, scatter-good, spender, spendthrift, squanderer, waster), изобилен (abounding, abundant, affluent, bountiful, copious, exuberant, fat, flush, free, good, hefty, liberal, luxuriant, opulent, plenteous, plentiful, plenty, productive, profuse, prolific, rank, redundant, rich, substantial, thick, unstinted, wealthy). (various references)

Chinese 

敗家子 (spendthrift, wastrel). (various references)

Czech

marnotratný (extravagant, lavish, luxurious, wasteful), hýřivý (riotous). (various references)

Dutch

onder curatele stellen (putting a child in tutelage, to deprive by declaration of court a prodigal or lunatic of the control over his property and establishing a guardianship(wardship)). (various references)

Farsi 

پرتجمل , متلف (Wasteful), مسرف (Spendthrift), ولخرج (Profligate, Spendthrift, Wasteful), اسراف اور. (various references)

Finnish

julistaa holhottavaksi (putting a child in tutelage, to deprive by declaration of court a prodigal or lunatic of the control over his property and establishing a guardianship(wardship)), asettaa holhouksenalaiseksi (putting a child in tutelage, to deprive by declaration of court a prodigal or lunatic of the control over his property and establishing a guardianship(wardship)). (various references)

French

prodigue. (various references)

German

verschwenderisch (extravagant, lavish, lavishly, luxuriantly, luxurious, spendthrift, sumptuous, sumptuously, superfluous, superfluously, thriftlessly, uneconomical, unsparing, unsparingly, unstintingly, unthriftily, unthrifty, wasteful, wastfully), verloren (astray, doomed, forlorn, gone, irrecoverable, irredeemable, lost, vain, wasted). (various references)

Greek 

σπάταλοσ (improvident, spendthrift, squanderer, thriftless, unstinted, waste, wasteful, waster, wastrel), άσωτοσ (dissipated, dissolute, fast, incontinent, libertine, rake, roue, squanderer). (various references)

Hebrew 

מבזבז (profligate, wasting), פזר� י (extravagant, profuse), בזבז� י (extravagant, improvident, lavish, wasteful). (various references)

Hungarian

tékozló (extravagant, lavish, lavisher, lavishing, spendthrift, squanderer, wasteful, wasting). (various references)

Indonesian

royal (extravagant, open-handed), boros (extravagant, improvident, lavish, loose, open-handed, wasteful). (various references)

Italian

prodigo (extravagant, flush, lavish, spendthrift, thriftless, unsparing), scialacquatore. (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

使い手 (consumer, employer, master, spendthrift, user). (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

つかいて (consumer, employer, master, spendthrift, user). (various references)

Manx

stroialtagh (big spender, destructive, spendthrift, wasteful). (various references)

Pig Latin

odigalpray

Portuguese

perdulário (chappie, spender, spendthrift, thriftless). (various references)

Romanian

risipitor (dissipated, extravagant, improvident, luxurious, profligate, profuse, spender, spendthrift, squanderer, thriftless, wasteful), cheltuitor (dissipated, extravagant, profligate, profuse, spender, spendthrift, squanderer, thriftless, wasteful, waster). (various references)

Russian 

расточительный (extravagant, improvident, lavish, profligate, spendthrift, thriftless, unsparing, unthrifty, wasteful). (various references)

Scottish

strìoghach, sgaireach. (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

zabludeo (erring), rasipni. (various references)

Spanish

pródigo (extravagant, lavish, profligate, profuse, spendthrift, unsparing, wasteful). (various references)

Swedish

slösande (extravagant, improvident, lavish, profligate, spendthrift, squandering, uneconomical, waste, wasteful). (various references)

Turkish

tutumsuz (improvident, squander, thriftless, unthrifty, wasteful), savurgan kimse (waster, wastrel), savurgan (consumptive, extravagant, inefficient, lavish, profuse, thriftless, uneconomic, uneconomical, unthrifty, wasteful), müsrif (consumptive, extravagant, improvident, inefficient, lavish, profligate, profuse, spender, spendthrift, squander, squanderer, thriftless, unthrifty, wasteful), bol (abounding, abundant, affluent, ample, baggy, bounteous, bountiful, broad, claret cup, copious, effusive, exuberant, fecund, flush, full, generous, handsome, hearty, hefty, lavish, liberal, loose, lots of, lush, luxuriant, opulent, plenteous, plentiful, plenty, profuse, rank, rich, riotous, unsparing, unstinted, wealthy, wide), çok (a great number of, a lot, a whale of, a whale of a lot, abounding, abundant, acres and acres, affluent, ample, awfully, badly, big, bloody, countless, damned, darned, dead, deadly, deeply, enormously, ever so, exuberant, fair, fantastically, galore, good, greatly, heaps of, heartily, hearty, heavily, heavy, hell, hell of, helluva, highly, innumerable, jolly, largely, lavish, like hell, loads of, lot, lots of, many, molto, more, much, multi-, multitudinous, numerous, over, piping, plenteous, plentiful, plenty, plenty of, poly-, precious, pretty, profuse, rank, rattling, revoltingly, sadly, so, some, sorely, spanking, strongly, such, thundering, tidy, too, umpteen, umpteenth, umptieth, vast, vastly, very, well, whaling, whopping). (various references)

Ukrainian

щедрий (boon, bounteous, charitable, flush, free-handed, free-hearted, generous, handsome, munificent, open, open handed, profuse, ungrudging, wanton), надмірний (exceeding, excessive, exorbitant, fulsome, immoderate, outrageous, over, overabundant, overdue, plethoric, profuse, racking, steep, superabundant, undue, unlimited, unreasonable), марнотратний (expensive, extravagant, improvident, lavish, luxurious, pound-foolish, profligate, spendthrift, unsparing, wasteful). (various references)

Vietnamese 

phá của (profligate), người hoang to� ng, người ăn tiêu phung phí, hoang to� ng; hoang phí, h� o phóng (free-handed, freely, handsome, munificent, open-handed). (various references)

Welsh

afradlon (abandoned, wasteful). (various references)

prodigalitatem. (various references)

Derivations

Words beginning with "prodigal": prodigalities, prodigality, prodigally, prodigals. (additional references)

Misspellings

"Prodigal" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Brodigan, podgily, Poudyal, prodical, prodigi, prodigial, prodignal, prodigol, prodlgal, produgal, progigal, providal. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-1 letter: dipolar, goliard.

-2 letters: algoid, dialog, gloria, lapdog.

-3 letters: algid, algor, argil, argol, aroid, drail, galop, glair, goral, grail, laird, largo, liard, lidar, logia, padri, pagod, pardi, pargo, parol, pilar, pirog, plaid, podia, polar, radio, rapid.

-4 letters: agio, apod, arid, aril, dago, dial, diol, dirl, dopa, dorp, drag, drip, drop, gadi, gaol, gild, gird, girl.

+1 letter: prodigals.

+2 letters: pollarding, prodigally.

+3 letters: prodigality.

+4 letters: clapboarding, depolarizing, heliographed, hydroplaning, lithographed, overpedaling.

+5 letters: demographical, overpedalling, prodigalities, prostaglandin.