squander
Americanverb
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to spend wastefully or extravagantly; dissipate
-
an obsolete word for scatter
noun
Synonym Usage
See spend.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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squandersimple
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squanderssimple
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have squanderedperfect
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has squanderedperfect
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am squanderingprogressive
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are squanderingprogressive
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is squanderingprogressive
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have been squanderingperfect progressive
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has been squanderingperfect progressive
Past
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squanderedsimple
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had squanderedperfect
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was squanderingprogressive
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were squanderingprogressive
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had been squanderingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of squander
First recorded in 1585–95; origin uncertain
Explanation
To squander means to spend extravagantly, thoughtlessly, or wastefully. If you need to save for college, don't squander your income on nightly sushi dinners. Squander used to mean scatter, and the way we use it now implies throwing something (like money) all over the place. You can squander time as well as money. If you have a big deadline but you are chatting away or looking at social networking sites, you are squandering your time. If you have an opportunity to play for a major league baseball team but show up late to tryouts and criticize the coach, you have probably squandered your chance.
Vocabulary lists containing squander
Fahrenheit 451
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Touching Spirit Bear
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Unit 3: Compelling Evidence
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Continuing to squander so many opportunities is bound to come with a price.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2026
His most urgent task was to mold passer Justin Herbert into a winner after prior regimes seemed to squander his talents.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026
Kostrzewa was one of several Polish executives who signed an appeal to both governments urging them not to "squander" their close ties.
From Barron's ● Jun. 29, 2026
Tottenham Hotspur squander the opportunity to take a significant step towards Premier League safety as they are held to a 1-1 draw at home by Leeds United.
From BBC ● May 11, 2026
On my way to the post office I think, Why should I squander money on stamps when I have two legs to deliver the letters myself in the dead of night?
From "Angela's Ashes: A Memoir" by Frank McCourt
Bud Wiggins is the hot-commodity-of-the-moment screenwriter and is advanced money for a screenplay, which he impulsively squanders, and yet his screenplay is never made into movie.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 19, 2024
Trym knows too well how the human touch squanders a wild animal’s dignity.
From Slate ● Dec. 24, 2022
Food waste not only squanders natural resources, money and effort, it degrades the environment.
From Salon ● Nov. 19, 2022
Less notable are Riley’s sidekicks, a ho-hum bunch that quickly squanders our patience.
From New York Times ● Oct. 6, 2022
My husband makes wife and children unhappy because he squanders everything, and Herr Sonnenkamp makes wife and children unhappy because he has got everything.
From Villa Eden: The Country-House on the Rhine by Berthold Auerbach
Others said the industry squandered its chance to close the deal earlier in the year, before any of those forces gathered steam.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
For a company that has owned a pioneering AI lab since 2014 and has proclaimed itself “AI-first” since 2016, Google seems to have squandered an early lead, experts say.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 15, 2026
Fritz squandered a pair of match points at 40-15 and gave himself another with a booming forehand.
From Barron's ● Aug. 3, 2026
From Muchova's diving volley to Gauff's squandered match point, it had it all.
From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026
It carried punishments that were different from those for other crimes, explained the judge assigned to his case, a judge who loathed squandered opportunities.
From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman
They’re just focused on winning this race, this time, and not squandering the opportunity that has fallen into their laps.
From Slate ● Sep. 21, 2026
I can definitely understand why there might not be, let’s say, a surplus of empathy for a privileged young man carelessly and repeatedly squandering his expensive education.
From Salon ● Jul. 25, 2026
Last season ended with a play-in game collapse, the Clippers squandering a 13-point, fourth-quarter lead to the Golden State Warriors at home.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 21, 2026
Oversight of payments to your brother not only prevents him from squandering the money, but it helps family wealth outlast a single generation, the law firm adds.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 16, 2026
The passenger pigeon remained an emblem of natural bounty, but now it also represented the squandering of that bounty.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
