Profligated

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Spent or wasted recklessly and extravagantly, with no thought for the cost or consequences
2. Having been squandered in a wasteful, careless way, with money or resources thrown away
3. Dissipated through reckless overspending, as when resources are given away without restraint

Etymology: "Profligated" is the past tense and past participle of "profligate", so the real story belongs to the root. The adjective "profligate" first appears in English in 1535, and the verb in 1542. Both come from Latin "prōflīgātus", the past participle of "prōflīgō", meaning "to strike down" or "cast down". That Latin verb is built from "prō-", meaning "forward", and "flīgō", meaning "to strike" or "dash". The sense of a striking-down was once the dominant one. Early English users applied the adjective and its participial forms in ways that echo that violence, and the participle was common in Early Modern English. Over time the meaning shifted from something knocked down to something ruined or squandered, and eventually to reckless wastefulness, which is the sense the word carries today.