profligacy

noun

Etymology: From proflig(ate) + -acy (with -acy a suffixal construction from -ate + -cy), from Latin prōflīgātus, past participle of Latin prōflīgō, from prō- (“forward”) + flīgō (“to strike, dash”) (whence pro-).

1. Careless wastefulness.

   “No question has arisen within the records of history that pressed with the importance of the present.[…]whether man shall inherit his rights, and universal civilisation take place? Whether the fruits of his labours shall be enjoyed by himself or consumed by the profligacy of governments?”

   “She mixed furniture with the same fatal profligacy as she mixed drinks, and this outrageous contact between things which were intended by Nature to be kept poles apart gave her an inexpressible thrill.”

2. Shameless and immoral behaviour.

   “He had, indeed, reduced several women to a state of utter profligacy, had broke the hearts of some, and had the honour of occasioning the violent death of one poor girl, who had either drowned herself, or, what was rather more probable, had been drowned by him.”

   “Sir Robert bitterly reproached himself for having consigned his child to another, when he saw the effect of too early initiation into profligacy, or, as Francis called it, knowledge of the world.”