extravagant
pronunciation
How to pronounce extravagant in British English:
UK [ɪkˈstrævəɡənt]
How to pronounce extravagant in American English:
US [ɪkˈstrævəɡənt]
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- Adjective:
- unrestrained in especially feelings
- recklessly wasteful
Word Origin
- extravagant
- extravagant: [14] An extravagant person is literally one who ‘wanders out of’ the proper course. The word comes from the present participle of medieval Latin extrāvagārī, a compound formed from the prefix extrā- ‘outside’ and vagārī ‘wander’ (source of English vagabond, vagary, and vagrant), which seems originally to have been used adjectivally with reference to certain uncodified or ‘stray’ papal decrees. This was the word’s original application in English, and the present-day meanings ‘wildly excessive’ and ‘spending too lavishly’ did not really establish themselves before the early 18th century.=> vagabond, vagary, vagrant
- extravagant (adj.)
- late 14c., from Medieval Latin extravagantem (nominative extravagans), originally a word in Canon Law for uncodified papal decrees, present participle of extravagari "wander outside or beyond," from Latin extra "outside of" (see extra-) + vagari "wander, roam" (see vague). Extended sense of "excessive, extreme, exceeding reasonable limits" first recorded 1590s, probably via French; that of "wasteful, lavish, exceeding prudence in expenditure" is from 1711. Related: Extravagantly. Wordsworth ("Prelude") used extravagate (v.).
Antonym
Example
- 1. And sicily is notorious for its extravagant administration .
- 2. His wife 's welcome is extravagant , fit for a god .
- 3. One suspects the impulse to live less extravagant lives will not quite vanish as the country recovers .
- 4. The balinese have the most extravagant funeral rites .
- 5. He has never made extravagant claims .