🥀 Not growing well 💸 Wasteful with money

unthrifty

8.6

Not careful with money, spending more than needed

adjective
/ʌnˈθrɪfti/

: derrochador

The unthrifty use of resources led to shortages in the community.

Examples

His unthrifty spending habits led to financial difficulties.
His unthrifty spending habits made it hard for him to save any money.
She realized her unthrifty choices were affecting her long-term financial goals.
She was criticized for her unthrifty lifestyle choices.
Her unthrifty spending habits led her to accumulate a large amount of debt.
Despite his unthrifty nature, he often bought the latest gadgets instead of saving for his future.
Living an unthrifty lifestyle makes it difficult to build a financial safety net.

Synonyms

wasteful

vsunthrifty

48 3.0

Using more money or things than you need

focuses on not being careful with money rather than only inefficiency

pound-foolish

vsunthrifty

1 9.9

Careful with small amounts of money but wasteful with larger amounts

is wasteful in general not only in large financial decisions

thriftless

vsunthrifty

1 8.5

Spends money or other resources in a careless way

has identical meaning and is an alternative form

spendy

vsunthrifty

1 8.2

A person who likes to buy expensive things

is careless with money generally rather than a mere liking to spend

unfrugal

vsunthrifty

9.0

Spending money or using things in a wasteful way

is broader meaning lack of thrift rather than only spending behavior

Antonyms

prudent

94 6.2

Being careful and thinking ahead when you make decisions

frugal

31 4.9

Careful about spending money and not wasting things

thrifty

10 4.4

Being careful with money and things to avoid wasting them

How Thrifty

thrifty

10 4.4

economical

23 3.8

unthrifty

8.6

wasteful

48 3.0

Surface Forms

unthrifty positive

Morphology

unthrifty = thrifty (transparent) = un + thrift + y

The meaning is the negative of 'thrifty' formed by productive negation with 'un-', so learners who know 'thrifty' can readily infer 'unthrifty'.

Etymology

The word unthrifty is made from un- 'not' and thrifty, which comes from the old word thrift meaning 'prosperity' or 'to thrive', the same idea you see in the word thrive. So, unthrifty means 'not careful with money or resources' because it literally says 'not letting money thrive'.