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Webster's Dictionary (1865)

3 entries under this word

Profligate

Prŏf'li-gate, a.

adjective

a. [Lat. profligatus, p. p. of profligare. See PROFLIGATE, v. t.]

Sense 1. Overthrown; beaten; conquered. [Obs.]

The foe is profligate, and run. Hudibras.

Sense 2. Abandoned to vice; lost to principle, virtue, or decency; openly and shamelessly immoral or vicious; as, a profligate man or wretch.

Next age will see A race more profligate than we. Roscommon.

Made prostitute and profligate the muse. Debased to each obscene and impious use. Dryden.

Synonyms— Abandoned; corrupt; dissolute; vitiated; depraved; vicious; wicked. See ABANDONED.

Prŏf'li-gate, n.

noun

n. An abandoned man; a person openly and shamelessly vicious.

How could such a profligate as Antony, or a boy of eighteen, like Octavius, ever dare to dream of giving law to such an empire? Swift.

Prŏf'li-gāte, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. [Lat. profligare, profligatum, to strike or dash to the ground, from pro, forward, and fligere, to strike, to strike down.] To drive away; to overcome. [A Latinism.] [Obs.] Harvey.