profligate: [16] Something that is profligate has etymologically been ‘beaten down’ to a state of ruination or degradation. The word was adapted from Latin prōflīgātus ‘destroyed, dissolute’, an adjective based on the past participle of prōflīgāre ‘beat down, destroy’. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix prō- ‘forward’ (used here in the sense ‘down’) and flīgere ‘hit’ (source also of English afflict, conflict [15], and inflict [16]). => afflict, conflict, inflict
profligate (adj.)
1520s, "overthrown, routed" (now obsolete in this sense), from Latin profligatus "destroyed, ruined, corrupt, abandoned, dissolute," past participle of profligare "to cast down, defeat, ruin," from pro- "down, forth" (see pro-) + fligere "to strike" (see afflict). Main modern meaning "recklessly extravagant" is 1779, via notion of "ruined by vice" (1640s, implied in a use of profligation). Related: Profligately. As a noun from 1709.
双语例句
1. Their profligate lifestyle resulted in bankruptcy.
他们挥霍的生活方式导致的破产.
来自《简明英汉词典》
2. This young man had all the inclination to be a profligate of the first water.
这个青年完全有可能成为十足的浪子.
来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
3. Similarly Americans have been profligate in the handling of mineral resources.
