A spendthrift (also called profligate) is someone who spends money prodigiously and who is extravagant and recklessly wasteful, often to a point where the spending climbs well beyond his or her means. The origin of the word is someone who is able to spend money acquired by the thrift of predecessors or ancestors.
Historical figures who have been characterized as spendthrifts include German philosopher Karl Marx George IV of Great Britain, King Ludwig II of Bavaria, and Marie Antoinette.
The term is often used by the press as an adjective applied to governments who are thought to be wasting public money.
Read more about Spendthrift: In Artwork, Legal Issues
Famous quotes containing the word spendthrift:
“We must have more money, that’s all there is to it. There must be more money.”
—Anthony Pélissier. The constant complaint of the spendthrift Mrs. Grahame (1949)
“The spendthrift rich never have enough, but the thrifty poor always have a little put by.”
—Chinese proverb.