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Home / What Is the Meaning of the Word Extravagant

What Is the Meaning of the Word Extravagant

Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Exceeding reasonable bounds: synonym: excessive.
  • adjective Unreasonably high in cost; exorbitant.
  • adjective Lavish or imprudent in spending money.
  • adjective Extremely abundant; profuse.
  • adjective Archaic Straying beyond limits or bounds; wandering.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Wandering beyond bounds or out of the regular course; straying.
  • Exceeding just or reasonable limits; excessive; exorbitant; unreasonable; lavish: as, the demands or desires of men are often extravagant; extravagant living or expenditure.
  • Not comprised within ordinary limits of truth, probability, or propriety; irregular; wild; fantastic: as, extravagant flights of fancy.
  • Exceeding necessity or prudence in expenditure; wasteful; prodigal; profuse: as, an extravagant purchase; an extravagant man.
  • Synonyms and Inordinate, exorbitant, unconscionable, absurd.
  • Extravagant, Profuse, Lavish, Wasteful, Prodigal, reckless. Extravagant and prodigal refer more often to habits or character, the others to acts. All apply to that which is immoderate or unreasonable in quantity or degree; wasteful to that which is injuriously so. One may be extravagant or wasteful with a small sum; it requires a large sum to enable one to be profuse, lavish, or prodigal. Lavish is stronger than profuse. Prodigal, perhaps from association with the prodigal son of Luke xv. 11-32, suggests most of immorality and reprobation. All these words have lighter figurative uses.
  • noun One who wanders about; a vagrant; a vagabond.
  • noun One who is confined to no general rule; an eccentric.
  • noun plural A part of the body of canon law: as, the Extravagants of John XXII. and the Extravagantes communes of other popes: so called because they treated of matters not in the decretals (extra decretum vagabantur).
  • noun A collection of Jewish traditions, published at the end of the second century.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective obsolete Wandering beyond one's bounds; roving; hence, foreign.
  • adjective Exceeding due bounds; wild; excessive; unrestrained.
  • adjective Profuse in expenditure; prodigal; wasteful.
  • noun One who is confined to no general rule.
  • noun (Eccl. Hist.) Certain constitutions or decretal epistles, not at first included with others, but subsequently made a part of the canon law.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective exceeding the bounds of something
  • adjective extreme
  • adjective exorbitant

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective recklessly wasteful
  • adjective unrestrained, especially with regard to feelings

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, unusual, rambling, from Old French, from Medieval Latin extrāvagāns , extrāvagant-, present participle of extrāvagārī, to wander : Latin extrā, outside; see extra– + Latin vagārī, to wander.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French and French extravagant, from Medieval Latin extravagans, past participle of extravagari ("to wander beyond"), from Latin extra ("beyond") + vagari ("to wander, stray").

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Examples

  • He denied what he called extravagant words by the media that he had appointed himself to preside over the trial, saying he and his two deputies had decided on the matter.

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  • 'Do you mean,' she said, looking up at him rather wistfully now, 'that I am _always_ what you call extravagant?'

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  • How is indulging one's children in extravagant gifts any different from the same excesses and greed he is supposedly railing against?

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  • As for the technique, they are "icebox cookies" from the Joy of Cooking cookbook, with Pillsbury vanilla frosting dyed in extravagant colors.

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  • For poor Michael Richards, a man most well-known for his ability to enter a room in extravagant fashion as Kramer on "Seinfeld," stand-up comedy is a place to go to watch your career slowly pass away; or, you know, a place to go to feed your inner-racist.

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  • Her propensity for riding about in extravagant carriages ... followed a standard set by the French queen (121). close window

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  • Many of his tracts are still extant, and they contain extravagant prophecies couched in the peculiar phraseology of the day.

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  • THOSE who read to the fortieth page of this tale, then close the work for ever and call the author a wild enthusiast who deals in extravagant legends and supernatural fictions, will do him the greatest injustice.

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  • They are referring to the extravagant lifestyle associated with former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who was synonymous with flashiness and cutting corners.

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  • They are referring to the extravagant lifestyle associated with former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who was synonymous with flashiness and cutting corners.

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What Is the Meaning of the Word Extravagant

Source: https://www.wordnik.com/words/extravagant