profligate

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

His son David speculated that his dad’s mixed feelings about his fast-food career stemmed from a mentality common among children of the Depression: “Excess bothered them. It almost seemed profligate and unnecessary,” he explained.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 4, 2026

Hansi Flick's side created several more clear chances in an entertaining clash but the woodwork and some profligate finishing stopped them from securing a far bigger victory.

From Barron's • Jan. 31, 2026

Yet her subject matter—life in an ordinary English village—contrasts with the Prince’s profligate metropolitan existence, and to most of his countrymen he appeared an “inveterate voluptuary,” of whom Austen, like many of her class, disapproved.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 21, 2025

Captain Dan Sheehan, Tomos Williams and Elliot Daly scored in a first half largely dominated by the profligate hosts in terms of territory but not on the scoreboard.

From BBC • Jun. 28, 2025

Although he possessed extraordinary reserves of energy, he’d been profligate with those reserves, and by the time he got to Camp Four they were nearly depleted.

From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer