SQUANDERING Synonyms: 156 Similar and Opposite Words

squandering 1 of 3

adjective

as in wasteful

given to spending money freely or foolishly the nightclub's ridiculous prices seem geared to squandering revelers with more money than sense

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squandering

2 of 3

noun

as in wastefulness

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Dissimilar Words

squandering

3 of 3

verb

present participle of squander

as in spending

to use up carelessly squandered all her money gambling in casinos

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in dispersing

to cause (members of a group) to move widely apart a single blast of the shotgun squandered the herd of deer

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of squandering

Noun

An everyman figure squeezing every bit of talent from his frame, a boy who returned to working as a fisherman after the first squandering of his football dream, from a family that could not always afford to buy him studded boots. — Jacob Whitehead, New York Times, 19 June 2026 Watching students use that platform to walk out on the CEO of one of the world’s most consequential companies clearly struck him as a squandering of rare privilege. — Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 15 June 2026 This is the sort of managerial aimlessness the Post is being governed by, just one example of the missteps and squandering of opportunity framed as strategy. — Sally Jenkins, The Atlantic, 5 Feb. 2026

Verb

Washington, for its part, is creating friction in many of its partnerships instead of deepening them, and risks squandering its network just as its adversaries are learning to make more of theirs. — Andrea Kendall-Taylor, Foreign Affairs, 16 Oct. 2026 His legacy was one of self-destruction, an elite major leaguer who drank himself out of the game, squandering his potential for greatness. — Paul Duggan, Washington Post, 10 Oct. 2026 The Braves suffered a dreadful defeat Wednesday in Game 2 of the Wild Card series, squandering a late lead to lose 4-3 to the Phillies and force a winner-take-all Game 3. — Gabriel Burns, AJC.com, 1 Oct. 2026 However, conventional disposal tactics like landfills and incineration trigger severe environmental pollution while squandering valuable resources. — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 21 Sep. 2026 Given the way this roster is constructed, squandering those chances is impossible to overcome. — Chandler Rome, New York Times, 13 Sep. 2026 Around baseball, the Halos became an absolute punchline for squandering the prime years of Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani on the exact same roster. — Alejandro Avila Outkick, FOXNews.com, 1 Sep. 2026 In squandering a 10-point lead over the final seven minutes, the Steelers closed the preseason 1-2. — CBS News, 28 Aug. 2026 The Valkyries needed a big second half after squandering a double-digit lead late in the second quarter. — ABC News, 2 Aug. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for squandering

Adjective

As costs kept climbing, many health economists were reluctant to probe the wasteful spending that accompanied the consolidation frenzy.

— Dana P. Goldman, STAT, 22 Oct. 2026
President Bola Tinubu, who is seeking a second term in January, has repeatedly defended his decision to scrap a years-long subsidy program in 2023 to avoid wasteful spending and invest in infrastructure development.

— Alexander Onukwue, semafor.com, 19 Oct. 2026

Definition of wasteful

Verb

In contrast, peregrine falcons that breed in Alaska migrate almost directly south, dispersing across the Americas to wintering grounds that extend as far as southern South America.

— Amy L. Scarpignato, The Conversation, 16 Oct. 2026
Israeli troops later arrived in Abu Falah and drove up to the village after dispersing the crowd in the olive groves.

— Sam Metz, Los Angeles Times, 16 Oct. 2026

Definition of dispersing

Noun

Decades of fiscal profligacy, including the costs of an extended conflict with Japan in Korea, had drained the imperial treasury.

— Carl Minzner, Foreign Affairs, 5 Oct. 2026
His first-half profligacy, at odds with his attacking threat, exemplified that notion.

— Jacob Tanswell, New York Times, 13 Aug. 2026

Definition of profligacy

Verb

Aside from briefly losing the seat for one term nearly a decade ago, Valadao has hung onto the seat.

— Seema Mehta, Los Angeles Times, 24 Oct. 2026
For this year’s show at Compton Verney, Cadogan has taken inspiration from British people who’ve written to her about losing beloved trees in their own gardens, or public spaces.

— Samantha Conti, Footwear News, 24 Oct. 2026

Definition of losing

Noun

If not the margin of error, this could be down to thermal management, as the XPS Googlebook is the smallest and lightest of the lineup, leaving less room for cooling hardware and heat dissipation than the HP model.

— Joe Osborne, PC Magazine, 16 Oct. 2026
The years that followed were plagued by stagnation and dissipation of any peace process, regular wars with Hamas, and a heavily nationalist government in Israel.

— Dahlia Scheindlin, Time, 7 Oct. 2026

Definition of dissipation

Verb

The challenge is integrating these capabilities into a defense that can quickly identify threats, select an appropriate response, and avoid wasting expensive interceptors on inexpensive drones.

— Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 25 Oct. 2026
The city of Milwaukee waited 46 years to see its team in the Fall Classic, and this year's Brewers wanted to stop wasting time.

— Ryan Morik OutKick, FOXNews.com, 24 Oct. 2026

Definition of wasting

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squanderers

squandering

squanders

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“Squandering.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/squandering. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of squandering

adjective

noun

verb

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