Profligate vs Wanton - What's the difference?
profligate | wanton | Related terms |
(obsolete) Overthrown, ruined.
* Hudibras
Inclined to waste resources or behave extravagantly.
* 2013 , Ben Smith, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24503988]", BBC Sport , 19 October 2013:
Immoral; abandoned to vice.
* Roscommon
* Dryden
An abandoned person; one openly and shamelessly vicious; a dissolute person.
An overly wasteful or extravagant individual.
(obsolete) To drive away; to overcome.
* 1840 , Alexander Walker, Woman Physiologically Considered as to Mind, Morals, Marriage, Matrimonial Slavery, Infidelity and Divorce , page 157:
(obsolete) Undisciplined, unruly; not able to be controlled.
* 1605 , William Shakespeare, King Lear , IV.1:
Lewd, immoral; sexually open, unchaste.
* 1749 , Henry Fielding, Tom Jones :
* 1874 , Thomas Hardy, Far From the Madding Crowd :
* 1946 , (Bertrand Russell), History of Western Philosophy , I.21:
(obsolete) Playful, sportive; being merry or carefree (often used figuratively).
* 1776 , Edward Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire , vol. 1:
(obsolete) Self-indulgent, fond of excess; luxurious.
* 1776 , Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations , Book I:
Capricious, reckless of morality, justice etc.; acting without regard for the law or the well-being of others; gratuitous.
* 1811 , Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility :
* 2009 , Ben White, The Guardian , 10 Aug 2009:
(obsolete) Extravagant, unrestrained; excessive (of speech or thought).
* 1876 , John Ruskin, Letters , 19 Jan 1876:
A pampered or coddled person.
* Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
An overly playful person; a trifler.
* Shakespeare
* Ben Jonson
A self-indulgent person, fond of excess.
(archaic) A lewd or immoral person, especially a prostitute.
To rove and ramble without restraint, rule, or limit; to revel; to play loosely; to frolic.
* Milton
* Lamb
*
To waste or squander, especially in pleasure (often with away ).
To act wantonly; to be lewd or lascivious.
Wanton is a synonym of profligate.
In obsolete terms the difference between profligate and wanton
is that profligate is to drive away; to overcome while wanton is extravagant, unrestrained; excessive (of speech or thought).profligate
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- The foe is profligate , and run.
- Jay Rodriguez headed over and Dani Osvaldo might have done better with only David De Gea to beat and, as Southampton bordered on the profligate , United were far more ruthless.
- a race more profligate than we
- Made prostitute and profligate muse.
Synonyms
* (inclined to waste resources or behave extravagantly) extravagant, wasteful, prodigal * immoral, licentious * See alsoDerived terms
* profligatenessNoun
(en noun)Synonyms
* (overly wasteful or extravagant individual) wastrel * See also andVerb
(profligat)- Such a stipulation would remove one powerful temptation to profligate pennyless seducers, of whom there are too many prowling in the higher circles ;
Synonyms
* overcomeExternal links
* * ----wanton
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- As Flies to wanton Boyes are we to th' Gods, / They kill us for their sport.
- if wenches will hang out lures for fellows, it is no matter what they suffer: I detest such creatures; and it would be much better for them that their faces had been seamed with the smallpox: but I must confess I never saw any of this wanton behaviour in poor Jenny [...].
- I know I ought never to have dreamt of sending that valentine—forgive me, sir—it was a wanton thing which no woman with any self-respect should have done.
- People should not marry too young, because, if they do, the children will be weak and female, the wives will become wanton , and the husbands stunted in their growth.
- The grave simplicity of the philosopher was ill calculated to engage her wanton levity, of to fix that unbounded passion for variety, which often discovered personal merit in the meanest of mankind.
- the market price will rise more or less above the natural price, according as either the greatness of the deficiency, or the wealth and wanton luxury of the competitors, happen to animate more or less the eagerness of the competition.
- Edward himself, now thoroughly enlightened on her character, had no scruple in believing her capable of the utmost meanness of wanton ill-nature.
- these developments in Gaza are a consequence of the state of siege that the tiny territory has been under – a society that has been fenced-in, starved, and seen its very fabric torn apart by unemployment and wanton military destruction.
- But do not think it argues change of temper since I wrote the Frère review, or a wanton praise of one man and blame of another.
Synonyms
* (lewd) lewd, lustful, unchaste * (capriciously violent) inhumane, insolent, malicious, merciless * (abundant and luxuriant) abundant, extravagant, lavish, luxuriant, prodigal, unrestrained * frolicsome, playful * (undisciplined) undisciplined, unrulyDerived terms
* wanton kittens make sober catsNoun
(en noun)- I would have thee gone — / And yet no farther than a wanton' s bird, / That lets it hop a little from her hand, / Like a poor prisoner in his twisted gyves, / And with a silken thread plucks it back again
- I am afeard you make a wanton of me.
- Peace, my wantons ; he will do / More than you can aim unto.
Verb
(en verb)- Nature here wantoned as in her prime.
- How merrily we would sally into the fields, and strip under the first warmth of the sun, and wanton like young dace in the streams!
- The young man wantoned away his inheritance.