51吃瓜 of the Day
prodigal
adjective
wastefully or recklessly extravagant:聽prodigal expenditure.
More about prodigal
Prodigal ultimately derives from the Late Latin adjective 辫谤艒诲颈驳腻濒颈蝉 鈥渨asteful,鈥� from the Latin adjective 辫谤艒诲颈驳耻蝉 (with the same meaning), a derivative of the verb 辫谤艒诲颈驳别谤别 鈥渢o drive forth or away; to waste, squander.鈥� 笔谤艒诲颈驳别谤别 is a compound of the preposition and combining form pro, pro- 鈥渇orth, forward鈥� and agere 鈥渢o drive (cattle), ride (a horse).鈥� Aristotle in Book IV of the Nicomachean Ethics defines the virtue of liberality (with respect to wealth) as the mean between the opposite vices of prodigality and stinginess, the prodigal man being one who wastes money on self-indulgent pleasures. The most famous case of prodigality is from Luke’s gospel (15:11-32), the 鈥淧arable of the Prodigal Son.鈥� Prodigal entered English in the 15th century.
how is prodigal used?
… Kubrick a planned and prodigal expenditure of resources.
She feels she can never truly write well because she lacks Lila鈥檚 wild, prodigal spirit. Lila, she thinks, 鈥減ossessed intelligence and didn鈥檛 put it to use but, rather, wasted it, like a great lady for whom all the riches in the world are merely a sign of vulgarity.鈥�
futilitarian
noun
a person who believes that human hopes are vain, and human strivings unjustified.
More about futilitarian
Futilitarian is a humorous blend of futile and utilitarian. The word was coined in scorn for the utilitarian philosophy for the jurist and philosopher Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) and the philosopher and economist John Stuart Mill (1806-73). Futilitarian entered English in the 19th century.
how is futilitarian used?
A lot of artists in America tend to be self-deprecating futilitarians, because we鈥檝e grown up in a culture in which art doesn鈥檛 matter except, occasionally, as a high-end investment.
For it is significant that much of the work of Bierce seems to be that of what he would have called a futilitarian, that he seldom seems able to find a suitable field for his satire, a foeman worthy of such perfect steel as he brings ot he encounter …
tabula rasa
More about tabula rasa
First recorded in 1525鈥�35, tabula rasa is from Latin tabula r膩sa 鈥渟craped tablet, clean slate鈥�