Prodigal Meaning
/ˈpɹɒdɪɡəl/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjWastefully extravagant.
adjYielding profusely, lavish.
Sentence Examples
The chariest maid is prodigal enough if she unmask her beauty to the moon.
The prodigal son returned home.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ heiress spent her entire fortune on useless luxury items within a year.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ____ son returned home after years of reckless spending and was welcomed back by his father.
Word Origin & History
From Middle French prodigal, from Late Latin prōdigālis (“wasteful”), from Latin prōdigus (“wasteful, lavish, prodigal”), from prōdigō (“to consume, squander, drive forth”), from prōd- [from prō (“before, forward”)] + agō (“to drive”). Also see unrelated prodigy. The senses of "abandoning a person or cause" and "returning after abandonment" are by allusion to the New Testament story commonly called "The Parable of the Prodigal Son", Luke 15:11–32. See prodigal son.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The prodigal heir can only waste his own substance, and the punishment falls, as it should, upon himself; but the prince has an awful responsibility,—the welfare of others is required at his hands;..."
— 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXIII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 257:
"He generally falls backwards and sometimes succumbs to the fever which ensues; hence as soon as the ordeal is over the women are prodigal of their attentions to him, and rub the swollen arm with a particular kind of herb."
— 1911, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 10, page 63:
"Granville poised himself over a vast sirloin, stropped his knife briskly, then began to hack away ruthlessly. He was a prodigal server and piled about two pounds of meat on my plate, then he started on the Yorkshire puddings."
— 1974, James Herriot, Vet in Harness, page 201:
"Goe binde thou vp vond dangling Apricocks, / Which like vnruly Children, make their Syre / Stoupe with oppreſſion of their prodigall weight:"
— 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv], page 37, column 2:
"And one, the reapers at their sultry toil. / In front they bound the sheaves. Behind / Were realms of upland, prodigal in oil, / And hoary to the wind."
— 1832, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, The Palace of Art:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ heiress spent her entire fortune on useless luxury items within a year.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ____ son returned home after years of reckless spending and was welcomed back by his father.