verb
-
to spend wastefully or extravagantly; dissipate
-
an obsolete word for scatter
noun
Related Words
See spend.
Other Word Forms
- resquander verb (used with object)
- squanderer noun
- squanderingly adverb
- unsquandered adjective
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.
That said, plenty of families have adult children who may be tempted to squander a large sum of money and/or even fall prey to other bad actors in their lives.
From MarketWatch • Feb. 18, 2026
India must not squander money trying to beat OpenAI or DeepSeek, officials say, but should instead find cost-effective ways to deploy AI usefully and build an AI-services business.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 5, 2026
Mali dominated much of the Group A encounter but saw El Bilal Toure squander a penalty late in the first half at the Stade Mohammed V in Casablanca.
From Barron's • Dec. 22, 2025
Unlike the Phillies, they didn’t squander their one opportunity for runs.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 6, 2025
Very few of these stars are of the massive short-lived variety that squander their reserves of thermonuclear fuel.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
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.
