spendthrift
Americannoun
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.
He is immediately headed to Spendthrift Farm in Lexington, Ky., where he will stand as a stallion.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 28, 2023
Spendthrift Farm, part of an ownership group that included My Racehorse and Madaket Stables, announced on its web site Wednesday that Monomoy Girl was injured Tuesday while training at the storied track.
From Seattle Times • Sep. 23, 2021
One of his more loyal stables, Spendthrift Farm, moved six of its horses from Baffert’s barn.
From New York Times • Jul. 14, 2021
It has led to one farm, Spendthrift of Kentucky, telling the Daily Racing Form it would pause working with Baffert.
From Washington Post • May 14, 2021
Spendthrift sons are manufactured by those fathers who many times a day proclaim that the boy has no notion of the value of money.
From The Nervous Child by Cameron, Hector Charles
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.