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Webster 1913 Edition


Extravagant

Ex-trav′a-gant

,
Adj.
[F.
extravagant
, fr. L.
extra
on the outside +
vagans
,
-antis
, p. pr. of
vagari
to wander, from
vagus
wandering, vague. See
Vague
.]
1.
Wandering beyond one’s bounds; roving; hence, foreign.
[Obs.]
The
extravagant
and erring spirit hies
To his confine.
Shakespeare
2.
Exceeding due bounds; wild; excessive; unrestrained;
as,
extravagant
acts, wishes, praise, abuse
.
There appears something nobly wild and
extravagant
in great natural geniuses.
Addison.
3.
Profuse in expenditure; prodigal; wasteful;
as, an
extravagant
man
.
Extravagant expense.”
Bancroft.

Ex-trav′a-gant

,
Noun.
1.
One who is confined to no general rule.
L'Estrange.
2.
pl.
(Eccl. Hist.)
Certain constitutions or decretal epistles, not at first included with others, but subsequently made a part of the canon law.

Webster 1828 Edition


Extravagant

EXTRAV'AGANT

,
Adj.
Literally, wandering beyond limits.
1.
Excessive; exceeding due bounds; unreasonable. The wishes, demands, desires and passions of men are often extravagant.
2.
Irregular; wild; not within ordinary limits of truth or probability, or other usual bounds; as extravagant flights of fancy.
There is something nobly wild and extravagant in great geniuses.
3.
Exceeding necessity or propriety; wasteful; prodigal; as extravagant expenses; an extravagant mode of living.
4.
Prodigal; profuse in expenses; as an extravagant man.
He that is extravagant will quickly become poor, and poverty will enforce dependence, and invite corruption.

EXTRAV'AGANT

,
Noun.
One who is confined to no general rule.

Definition 2024


extravagant

extravagant

English

Adjective

extravagant (comparative more extravagant, superlative most extravagant)

  1. Exceeding the bounds of something; roving; hence, foreign.
  2. Extreme; wild; excessive; unrestrained.
    • Addison
      There appears something nobly wild and extravagant in great natural geniuses.
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 1, in The China Governess:
      The half-dozen pieces […] were painted white and carved with festoons of flowers, birds and cupids. [] The bed was the most extravagant piece. Its graceful cane halftester rose high towards the cornice and was so festooned in carved white wood that the effect was positively insecure, as if the great couch were trimmed with icing sugar.
    extravagant acts, praise, or abuse
  3. Exorbitant.
    • 2013 June 8, Obama goes troll-hunting”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 55:
      According to this saga of intellectual-property misanthropy, these creatures [patent trolls] roam the business world, buying up patents and then using them to demand extravagant payouts from companies they accuse of infringing them. Often, their victims pay up rather than face the costs of a legal battle.
  4. Profuse in expenditure; prodigal; wasteful.
    an extravagant man;  extravagant expense
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Bancroft to this entry?)

Synonyms

  • See also Wikisaurus:excessive

Related terms

Translations

External links

  • extravagant in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
  • extravagant in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

French

Adjective

extravagant m (feminine singular extravagante, masculine plural extravagants, feminine plural extravagantes)

  1. extravagant

German

Etymology

From French extravagant

Adjective

extravagant (comparative extravaganter, superlative am extravagantesten)

  1. extravagant

Related terms

  • Extravaganz

Declension