different between unruly vs profligate

English

Etymology

From Middle English unruly (“unquiet, restless”), equivalent to un- +? rule +? -ly (compare Middle English ruly, reuli (“subject to a religious rule, regular”)), but also representing a modified continuation of earlier Middle English unrouly, unroly (“unquiet, restless”), equivalent to un- +? roolie. The latter is perhaps from or influenced by Old Norse *úróligr, related to Danish urolig (“restless”), Swedish orolig (“restless”), Icelandic órólegur (“agitated”). Compare also Middle English unroo, unro (“unrest”). More at roo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?n??u?li/
• Rhymes: -u?li

Adjective

unruly (comparative unrulier, superlative unruliest)

1. Wild; uncontrolled.
   • 2011 Allen Gregory, "Pilot" (season 1, episode 1):

     Richard DeLongpre: Are you okay, my boy angel?

     Allen Gregory DeLongpre: I have a broken heart. And undergarments filled with my own unruly waste.

Translations

English

Etymology

From Latin pr?fl?g?tus (“wretched, abandoned”), participle of pr?fl?g? (“strike down, cast down”), from pro (“forward”) + fligere (“to strike, dash”).

Pronunciation

• (adjective, noun, Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?p??fl???t/
• (adjective, noun, US) enPR: pr??fl?g?t, IPA^(key): /?p???fl???t/
• (adjective, noun)
• (verb, Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?p??fl??e?t/
• (verb, US) enPR: pr??fl?g?t, IPA^(key): /?p???fl??e?t/
• (verb)

Adjective

profligate (comparative more profligate, superlative most profligate)

1. Inclined to waste resources or behave extravagantly.

   Synonyms: extravagant, wasteful, prodigal; see also Thesaurus:prodigal

   • 2013, Ben Smith, "[1]", BBC Sport, 19 October 2013:

     Jay Rodriguez headed over and Dani Osvaldo might have done better with only David De Gea to beat and, as Southampton bordered on the profligate, United were far more ruthless.
2. Immoral; abandoned to vice.

   Synonyms: immoral, licentious

   • 1685, John Dryden, To The Pious Memory of the Accomplish'd Young Lady Mrs. Anne Killigrew

     Made prostitute and profligate the muse.
3. (obsolete) Overthrown, ruined.

Derived terms

• profligateness

Translations

Noun

profligate (plural profligates)

1. An abandoned person; one openly and shamelessly vicious; a dissolute person.
2. An overly wasteful or extravagant individual.

   Synonyms: wastrel; see also Thesaurus:spendthrift, Thesaurus:prodigal

Translations

Verb

profligate (third-person singular simple present profligates, present participle profligating, simple past and past participle profligated)

1. (obsolete) To drive away; to overcome.
   • 1840, Alexander Walker, Woman Physiologically Considered as to Mind, Morals, Marriage, Matrimonial Slavery, Infidelity and Divorce, page 157:

     Such a stipulation would remove one powerful temptation to profligate pennyless seducers, of whom there are too many prowling in the higher circles ;

Related terms

• profligacy
• profligately
• profligateness
• profligation

Further reading

• profligate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• profligate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Latin

Adjective

pr?fl?g?te

1. vocative masculine singular of pr?fl?g?tus