lavish means expending or bestowing profusely; profuse; prodigal. It carries an Arena rating of 1638, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, lavish ranks #2,308 of 14,431 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #2,351 of 14,308 for Most Malleable Words, #2,737 of 14,445 for Most Beautiful Words, #6,218 of 14,340 for Most Vivid Words.
lavish is pronounced /ˈlævɪʃ/.
Why “lavish” is a great word
Given or spent in great, often excessive quantity; to bestow or give in extravagant abundance. From Middle English laves, lavas ('extravagant, wasteful'), from Old French lavasse, lavache ('a torrent of rain, deluge'), related to laver ('to wash'); the sense development is from the idea of a deluge to profuse outpouring, first recorded in English in the mid-15th century. Unlike 'profuse,' which merely overflows, or 'frugal,' which is its careful opposite, 'lavish' is abundance tinged with spectacle and critique. It is the gilt dripping from a baroque ceiling until the eye tires of gold, the host who presses third helpings upon sated guests, the inheritance blown in a single season of horses and champagne—the strange, hollow grandeur of giving so much that the gift becomes its own kind of taking.
Etymology
From Middle English laves, lavas, lavage (“extravagant, wasteful, prodigal”), from lavas (“excessive abundance”), from Old French lavasse, lavache (“torrent of rain”); possibly later conflated in some senses by Middle English laven (“to pour out”), equivalent to lave + -ish. Compare Scots lawage, lavisch, lavish (“unrestrained, excessively prodigal, extravagant”). Compare also English lavy (“lavish, liberal”), Dutch lafenis (“lavishness”).
adj
- Expending or bestowing profusely; profuse; prodigal.“lavish of money; lavish of praise”
- Superabundant; excessive.“lavish spirits”
- Unrestrained, impetuous.“Thou wilt repent theſe lauiſh words of thine”
- Rank or lush with vegetation.“[…] Thro’ lands where not a leaf was dumb;
But all the lavish hills would hum
The murmur of a happy Pan: […]”
noun
- Excessive abundance or expenditure, profusion, prodigality.
verb
- To give out extremely generously; to squander.“They lavished money on the dinner.”
- To give out to (somebody) extremely generously.“They lavished him with praise.”
Words closest in meaning
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