squander

CEFRC1

/ˈskwɒnd.ə/

verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To waste money, time, or an opportunity.

  2. 02

    verb

    Extra detail

    To scatter; to disperse.

Examples

  • Do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is made of.

  • Do not squander time. That's the stuff life is made of.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
4
Parts of speech
1
Citations
3
Synonyms
5

Also pronounced

  • [ˈskʷɑn.dɚ]
  • [ˈskwɒn.də]

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. To wander at random; to scatter.

  2. To waste, lavish, splurge; to spend lavishly or profusely; to dissipate.

More examples

In context

  • Don't squander your newly earned money!

  • 1746, Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanac Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is made of.

  • 1886, Cora Pearl, Memoirs. "I have squandered money enormously.... I ought to have saved, but saving is not easy in such a whirl of excitement as that in which I have lived."

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

He tends to blank his paycheck on useless items.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

Earliest uses (late 16th c.) "to spend recklessly or prodigiously", also "to scatter over a wide area". Of unknown origin. Perhaps a blend of scatter + wander. Compare Danish skvætte (rare)/skvatte (“to splash”) (nominalised: skvæt), Icelandic skvetta (“to squirt”), Swedish skvätta (“to splash”), Norwegian Bokmål skvette.