spendthrift
/ˈspɛn(d)θɹɪft/
spendthrift · adj — improvident, profligate, or wasteful. It carries an Arena rating of 1753, earned across 18 head-to-head judged battles.
Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, spendthrift ranks #412 of 17,151 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #808 of 17,188 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #1,340 of 17,165 for Most Satisfying to Say, #1,747 of 17,176 for Most Incisive Words.
spendthrift is pronounced /ˈspɛn(d)θɹɪft/.
Why “spendthrift” is a great word
A person who spends money wastefully and improvidently, or describing such behavior; from *spend* (to pay out money) and *thrift* in its archaic sense of “savings, profits, wealth,” first attested c. 1600—a term that cannibalizes its own opposite. Unlike “prodigal,” which hints at a narrative arc of loss and possible redemption, or the direct, frugal virtue of “thrifty,” spendthrift is a clinical label for habitual dissipation. It is the champagne bottle left half-finished and flat at dawn, the pile of unopened parcels accumulating dust in a hallway, the lavish dinner bought for strangers while the home larder stands bare—a quiet tragedy of erosion, where the future is steadily liquidated to pay for the present.
❧ Essay by Lexicurio’s AI · definition, etymology & citations from published sources
Etymology
From spend + thrift (“(archaic) savings; profits; wealth”).
adj
- Improvident, profligate, or wasteful.
- Extravagant or lavish.
noun
- Someone who spends money improvidently or wastefully.
- Anything that distributes its attributes profusely, without restraint.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.