Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Not providing for the future; thriftless.
- adjective Rash; incautious.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Not provident; wanting foresight; neglecting to provide for future needs or exigencies; unthrifty.
- Synonyms Imprudent, shiftless, careless, prodigal. See
wisdom .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Not provident; wanting foresight or forethought; not foreseeing or providing for the future; negligent; thoughtless.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective failing to
provide for thefuture ;reckless - adjective
incautious ;prone torashness
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective not given careful consideration
- adjective not provident; not providing for the future
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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I do not like being asked to pay large sums of money for windfalls to the improvident, but given the choice between improvident families losing their homes and stock and bondholders in improvident banks, I know whose windfall I’d choose to hand my a share of my income to.
Discourse.net: Feh 2008
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After all, the wild Indians could not be justly termed improvident, when their manner of life is taken into consideration.
Indian Boyhood 1902
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After all, the wild Indians could not be justly termed improvident, when their manner of life is taken into consideration.
Indian Boyhood Charles Alexander Eastman 1898
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How are the 'improvident' -- 'harum-scarums' to live if you are not present to minister to their wants -- upon the best of security? "
The Story of the Foss River Ranch Ridgwell Cullum 1905
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So the war in Afghanistan must be gradually downshifted to the Left's pre-Iraq take on it: the "improvident" "quagmire" that "really solves nothing" and has only (as Obama said of the Bush approach) "given a huge boost to terrorist recruitment in countries that say, 'Look, this is how the United States treats Muslims.'"
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'improvident' (that was the favourite word) down the Yard.
Little Dorrit Charles Dickens 1841
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He found “a substantial ground of truth in the indictment” of working-class Americans as “improvident and apparently incompetent to take care of the pecuniary details of their own life.”
A Renegade History of the United States Thaddeus Russell 2010
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In Europe, Germans think Greeks and other southern Europeans are lazy and improvident.
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I think we've made it abundantly clear that we who pay the taxes have had enough of subsidising the indolent, improvident, and irresponsible.
In health care reform debate, Obama puts focus on affordability 2009
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It bails out the improvident and sticks those who made prudent decisions with the bill.
Notable & Quotable 2011
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