SQUANDER

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does squander mean? 

• SQUANDER (verb)
  The verb SQUANDER has 2 senses:

1. spend thoughtlessly; throw away

2. spend extravagantly

  Familiarity information: SQUANDER used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SQUANDER (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they squander    ... he / she / it squanders   
Past simple: squandered   
Past participle: squandered   
-ing form: squandering   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Spend thoughtlessly; throw away

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

blow; squander; waste

Context example:

You squandered the opportunity to get and advanced degree

Hypernyms (to "squander" is one way to...):

expend; use (use up, consume fully)

Verb group:

blow (spend lavishly or wastefully on)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "squander"):

burn (spend (significant amounts of money))

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

squanderer (a recklessly extravagant consumer)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Spend extravagantly

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Synonyms:

consume; squander; ware; waste

Context example:

waste not, want not

Hypernyms (to "squander" is one way to...):

drop; expend; spend (pay out)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "squander"):

drink; tope (drink excessive amounts of alcohol; be an alcoholic)

dissipate; fool; fool away; fritter; fritter away; frivol away; shoot (spend frivolously and unwisely)

luxuriate; wanton (become extravagant; indulge (oneself) luxuriously)

lavish; shower (expend profusely; also used with abstract nouns)

overspend (spend at a high rate)

fling; splurge (indulge oneself)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

squanderer (a recklessly extravagant consumer)

squandering (spending resources lavishly and wastefully)

 Context examples 

Pluto’s job is to teach you to laser focus your energies on your goals and not squander them by going in too many directions.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

He was a man of excellent birth and education, who had squandered a fortune upon the turf, and who lived now by doing a little quiet and genteel book-making in the sporting clubs of London.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He learned to play heavily at cards and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)