Post by t-bob on Feb 23, 2019 10:38:45 GMT -5
PRODIGAL
adjective
1. wastefully or recklessly extravagant: prodigal expenditure.
2. giving or yielding profusely; very generous; lavish (usually followed by of or with): prodigal of smiles; prodigal with praise.
3. lavishly abundant; profuse: nature's prodigal resources.
noun
1. a person who is wasteful of his or her money, possessions, etc.; spendthrift : In later years, he was a prodigal of his fortune.
Quotes
... Kubrick a planned and prodigal expenditure of resources. -- Annette Michelson, "Bodies in Space: Film as 'Carnal Knowledge'," Artforum, February 1969 She feels she can never truly write well because she lacks Lila’s wild, prodigal spirit. Lila, she thinks, “possessed intelligence and didn’t put it to use but, rather, wasted it, like a great lady for whom all the riches in the world are merely a sign of vulgarity.” -- Joan Acocella, "Elena Ferrante's New Book: Art Wins," The New Yorker, September 1, 2015
Origin
Prodigal ultimately derives from the Late Latin adjective prōdigālis “wasteful,” from the Latin adjective prōdigus (with the same meaning), a derivative of the verb prōdigere “to drive forth or away; to waste, squander.” Prōdigere is a compound of the preposition and combining form pro, pro- “forth, forward” and agere “to drive (cattle), ride (a horse).” Aristotle in Book IV of the Nicomachean Ethics defines the virtue of liberality (with respect to wealth) as the mean between the opposite vices of prodigality and stinginess, the prodigal man being one who wastes money on self-indulgent pleasures. The most famous case of prodigality is from Luke's gospel (15:11-32), the “Parable of the Prodigal Son.” Prodigal entered English in the 15th century.
