spendthrift
Americannoun
-
spendthrifts
plural
adjective
noun
adjective
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of spendthrift
Explanation
A spendthrift person is reckless and wasteful with his money. If you're a spendthrift, you might find yourself in debt. However, it might be fun to have a spendthrift friend who likes to treat you to expensive lunches and lavish gifts. Spendthrift was created by sticking two opposite words together: spend and thrift, which means “savings, wealth.” So a spendthrift spends all of his savings. Spendthrift people are the worst nightmare of retirement planners and Scrooges all over the globe. So unless you want to be called a spendthrift, think twice about your next purchase.
Vocabulary lists containing spendthrift
The Catcher in the Rye
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A Doll's House
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Intermediate, List 9
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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:
Yardeni Research President Ed Yardeni said Thursday that the results offer the “latest evidence that consumers have continued their spendthrift ways.”
From Barron's ● Apr. 30, 2026
Some courts may be less willing to extend trust protections in such cases, though courts do not routinely pierce spendthrift protections simply because the underlying conduct of a beneficiary was wrongful.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 16, 2026
No one today any longer wishes to hear jokes about nagging mothers-in-law, spendthrift wives or old jalopies, and the men and women who once told them to hardy plaudits are now forgotten.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2025
Trusts also allow you to put restrictions on how money is spent, which can be important if your heir is a minor child, a spendthrift or someone reliant on public benefits.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 29, 2024
At the same time he was more of a carouser and spendthrift than ever.
From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
I will uphold his wishes, but if I outlive him and there’s no agreement in place, I would likely give little to nothing to his children because they are irresponsible spendthrifts.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 16, 2026
Two curmudgeonly old rivals, reclusive spendthrifts, are marching toward a showdown that a lot of people really wish wasn’t happening.
From New York Times ● Jan. 31, 2024
Here’s what typically happens to spendthrifts who clear their debt.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 1, 2023
I heard my generation was full of squanderers and spendthrifts, but this really does take the avocado.
From The Guardian ● May 25, 2018
Thus, if you change a nation of spendthrifts into a nation of economical men, you bring about a great and glorious result.
From Freehold Land Societies Their History, Present Position, and Claims by Ritchie, J. Ewing (James Ewing)
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.
