improvident
Americanadjective
-
not provident; lacking foresight; incautious; unwary.
- Synonyms:
- heedless, imprudent, careless, thoughtless
- Antonyms:
- prudent
-
neglecting to provide for future needs.
- Synonyms:
- prodigal, wasteful, unthrifty, thriftless, shiftless
- Antonyms:
- economical
adjective
-
not provident; thriftless, imprudent, or prodigal
-
heedless or incautious; rash
Other Word Forms
- improvidence noun
- improvidently adverb
Etymology
Origin of improvident
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.
Jon Provost played Timmy, a well-intentioned but improvident child who often finds himself in life-threatening situations that require Lassie to alert his folks and guide them to him.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 27, 2025
If you should be so improvident as to kick it hard, the engine will come to full strength at the speed of thought.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 23, 2025
She did quit her job to take care of him, but they were improvident and did not buy long-term care insurance.
From Washington Post • Nov. 1, 2021
Her restlessness manifests itself in a familiar way—she makes an improvident purchase and leaves her husband of twentysome years, but instead of buying a convertible, Sam buys a house.
From Slate • Jul. 13, 2021
The absence45 of reflection makes him grossly improvident, and unfits him for pursuing any complicated scheme of war or policy.
From The Conspiracy of Pontiac and the Indian War after the Conquest of Canada by Parkman, Francis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
