Word of the Day for Sunday, January 8, 2012
profligacy \PROF-li-guh-see\, noun:
1. Reckless extravagance.
2. Shameless dissoluteness.
3. Great abundance.
The extravagance and general profligacy which he scrupled not to lay at Mr. Wickham's charge, exceedingly shocked her; the more so, as she could bring no proof of its injustice.
-- Jane Austen, "Pride and Prejudice"
The profligacy of a man of fashion is looked upon with much less contempt and aversion, than that of a man of meaner condition.
-- Adam Smith, "The Theory of Moral Sentiments"
Profligacy comes from the Latin word prōflīgātus which meant "broken down in character or degraded."
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