💸 Huge overspend 🦖 Big spender

budget-zilla

9.6

A person who causes or allows a project to cost much more than planned

noun
/ˈbʌdʒɪtˌzɪlə/

Offensive

: despilfarrador

She joked that the new director was a budget-zilla after approving costly design changes.

Examples

By the end of the meeting everyone blamed the budget-zilla for the project's rising costs.
The project failed because of a budget-zilla who ignored all warnings.
If we don't curb spending, the finance team warned we might hire another budget-zilla soon.
Why does our team have to deal with a budget-zilla?
Everyone criticized the budget-zilla for allowing the expenses to spiral out of control.
During the project review, the team identified the budget-zilla who had signed off on all the extras.
After the last project went over budget, the manager became known as the office budget-zilla.

Antonyms

penny pincher

Informal

1 5.8

A person who spends very little money to save as much as possible

How Budget-Conscious

watchdog

56 3.5

budgeter

1 3.8

budget-zilla

Offensive

9.6

spendthrift

5 8.5

Surface Forms

budget-zilla singular

budget-zillas plural

Morphology

budget-zilla = budget (semi-transparent) = budget + zilla

The structure 'budget' + '-zilla' is consistent, but understanding that it labels a person as causing or tolerating monstrous overruns depends on recognizing the slang usage of '-zilla'.

Etymology

Budget-zilla combines budget and -zilla, taken from the movie monster Godzilla, so it paints a picture of a person who creates a 'monster' of costs or lets spending run wild. That's why a budget-zilla can mean a manager or decision-maker who causes or tolerates large budget overruns.