different between profligacy vs dissipation

English

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?p??fl???si/

Noun

profligacy (countable and uncountable, plural profligacies)

1. (countable) Careless wastefulness.
   • 1791, Thomas Paine, Rights Of Man

     No question has arisen within the records of history that pressed with the importance of the present. […] whether man shall inherit his rights, and universal civilisation take place? Whether the fruits of his labours shall be enjoyed by himself or consumed by the profligacy of governments?
2. (uncountable) Shameless and immoral behaviour.
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling

     He had, indeed, reduced several women to a state of utter profligacy, had broke the hearts of some, and had the honour of occasioning the violent death of one poor girl, who had either drowned herself, or, what was rather more probable, had been drowned by him.

Synonyms

• profligateness

Translations

English

Etymology

From Middle French dissipation, from Late Latin dissipatioMorphologically dissipate +? -ion

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?d?s??pe???n/
• Rhymes: -e???n

Noun

dissipation (countable and uncountable, plural dissipations)

1. The act of dissipating or dispersing; a state of dispersion or separation; dispersion; waste.
   • 1677, Matthew Hale, The Primitive Origination of Mankind, Considered and Examined According to the Light of Nature

     the famous dissipation of mankind

2. A dissolute course of life, in which health, money, etc., are squandered in pursuit of pleasure; profuseness in immoral indulgence, as late hours, riotous living, etc.; dissoluteness.
   • 18th century, Patrick Henry in a parliamentary debate

     to reclaim the spendthrift from his dissipation and extravagance

   • 1847, Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights, chapter VIII:

     He neither wept nor prayed; he cursed and defied: execrated God and man, and gave himself up to reckless dissipation.
3. A trifle which wastes time or distracts attention.
   • 1733 May 28, letter from Alexander Pope to Jonathan Swift:

     Prevented from finishing them [the letters] a thousand avocations and dissipations.

4. (physics) A loss of energy, usually as heat, from a dynamic system.

Translations

French

Etymology

From dissiper +? -tion

Pronunciation

Noun

dissipation f (plural dissipations)

1. clearing, dissipation, disappearance

Further reading

• “dissipation” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).