Meaning & use
prodigality
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Meanings
noununcountable
The habit of spending or using up money, goods or resources far too freely, without thought for the future.
Grammar: Not used with an or a plural: his prodigality, not a prodigality.
Patterns
- the prodigality of someone
- prodigality with something
The heir's prodigality emptied the family fortune in under ten years.
Critics condemned the government's prodigality with public funds.
Her prodigality at the market left the pantry stuffed with food nobody could eat.
noununcountableliterary
An unusually generous or abundant supply of something, given or produced in great quantity.
Grammar: Often followed by of: the prodigality of nature.
Patterns
- the prodigality of something
The meadow bloomed with a prodigality that surprised even the gardener.
He admired the prodigality of her imagination.
Autumn showed a prodigality of color along the river.
Common combinations
- sheer prodigality
- The banquet was sheer prodigality, with enough food for three times the guests.
- reckless prodigality
- Reckless prodigality drained the estate.
- charge of prodigality
- He faced a charge of prodigality from his own relatives.
- prodigality of nature
- The rainforest displays the prodigality of nature.
- years of prodigality
- Years of prodigality left the city deep in debt.
Synonyms and how they differ
- extravagance
- Extravagance is the everyday word for overspending, while prodigality sounds more formal and suggests deliberate waste.
- profligacy
- Profligacy adds a hint of moral looseness, whereas prodigality is mainly about wasteful spending.
- wastefulness
- Wastefulness covers any careless use of resources, not just money, and sounds much plainer.
- lavishness
- Lavishness can be admiring and neutral, but prodigality usually carries criticism.
Opposites
Word family
- prodigal adjective
- wastefully extravagant; also used of someone who returns after a long absence
- prodigal noun
- a person who spends wastefully
- prodigally adverb
- in a wasteful or very generous way
- prodigious adjective
- remarkably large or impressive
Commonly confused: prodigality or prodigy? prodigality or prodigious?
prodigality vs prodigy
A prodigy is an unusually gifted young person and has nothing to do with wasting money.
prodigality vs prodigious
Prodigious means astonishingly large, as in a prodigious appetite, and does not mean wasteful.
Practice
The duke's ___ ruined his estate: he gave lavish parties every week and never checked the accounts.
Choose one answer.
Prodigality means reckless overspending, which fits the ruin described. Prodigy is a gifted young person, a tempting look-alike that does not fit.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “prodigality”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.