lavish
Americanadjective
-
expended, bestowed, or occurring in profusion.
lavish spending.
- Synonyms:
- wild, unrestrained, wasteful, unreasonable, thriftless, intemperate, improvident, immoderate, extravagant, excessive
-
using or giving in great amounts; prodigal (often followed byof ).
lavish of his time;
lavish of affection.
- Synonyms:
- unsparing, openhanded, munificent, liberal, free, effusive, bountiful, generous
- Antonyms:
- tight-fisted, tight, stingy, parsimonious, miserly, cheap
verb (used with object)
adjective
-
prolific, abundant, or profuse
-
generous; unstinting; liberal
-
extravagant; prodigal; wasteful
lavish expenditure
verb
Synonym Usage
Lavish, prodigal, profuse refer to that which exists in abundance and is poured out copiously. Lavish suggests (sometimes excessive) generosity and openhandedness: lavish hospitality; much too lavish. Prodigal suggests wastefulness, improvidence, and reckless impatience of restraint: a prodigal extravagance. Profuse emphasizes abundance, but may suggest overemotionalism, exaggeration, or the like: profuse thanks, compliments, apologies.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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lavishernoun
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lavishmentnoun
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lavishnessnoun
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overlavishnessnoun
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overlavishadjective
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unlavishadjective
-
unlavishedadjective
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lavishlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
lavishsimple
-
lavishessimple
-
have lavishedperfect
-
has lavishedperfect
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am lavishingprogressive
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are lavishingprogressive
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is lavishingprogressive
-
have been lavishingperfect progressive
-
has been lavishingperfect progressive
Past
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lavishedsimple
-
had lavishedperfect
-
was lavishingprogressive
-
were lavishingprogressive
-
had been lavishingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of lavish
First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English lavas “profusion” (noun), “profuse” (adjective), from Middle French lavasse, lavache “downpour of rain,” derivative of laver “to wash,” from Latin lavāre
Explanation
Lavish means "generous and extravagant" as an adjective and "to give generously" as a verb. If you don't like it when people lavish you with attention, you might appreciate a lavish spread of excellent food instead. Lavish comes from the Old French lavache meaning "deluge, torrent," referring to rain. When you see it, think of a shower of good things coming down on you as you never use lavish with something bad. Didn't your parents lavish you with praise and love when you were small? With lavish as an adjective, you can rephrase that question like this: Didn't your parents offer you lavish praise and love when you were little?
Vocabulary lists containing lavish
"The Odyssey" by Homer, Books 1–7
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Vocabulary from the Introduction to "Reality is Broken" by Jane McGonigal
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Grade 9, List 6
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Hollywood actress Elisha Cuthbert has officially sold her lavish Los Angeles home for $1.93 million, days after the property was put back on the market with a significant discount.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 29, 2026
Long eventually began using his the money to fund his lavish lifestyle with many properties in and outside the UK.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
Leonard Bernstein’s lavish orchestrations of his “Three Dances from ‘On the Town’” and Ellington’s “Harlem” benefited from Wilkins’ low-key conducting, offering ease and freedom to the players.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 16, 2026
But even if some historical nuance is lacking, the lavish works in “India’s Great Mughals” brilliantly capture the artistic and cultural sophistication that for centuries has ensured the Mughals’ enduring popularity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026
Helping Hamid rush to prepare a last-minute lavish lunch for Khan Sahib had left me tired.
From "Amal Unbound" by Aisha Saeed
He lavishes attention on the more culturally salient story of Riefenstahl but muddles its significance in a playful, morally uncommitted approach that perhaps might be more satisfying with supplemental biographical material.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2024
“For this reason, I wish in my first encyclical to speak of the love which God lavishes upon us, and which we in turn must share with others.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 31, 2022
On his debut album, Jonathan Tetelman lavishes his sumptuous tenor and almost poetic attention on classic Romantic and verismo arias.
From New York Times ● Dec. 22, 2022
A daughter serves as mistress of ceremonies in the dining room, and his wife lavishes attention on the salads and sweets, including a divine cheesecake whose crust fuses dates and ground pistachios.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 25, 2022
He lavishes attention on the great storm-colored beast and her tiny rider from the moment we meet in the morning until the moment they disappear for the parade.
From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
Some cabinet members, like Rubio and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, lavished the president with adulation in their comments.
From Salon ● Jun. 2, 2026
He had no patience for what he didn’t like, but when he was in the presence of something he adored, he lavished his attention and could rise to his own level of greatness.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 12, 2026
The gifts were lavished upon an elite tier of the company’s “beauty consultants.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
Most Silicon Valley companies at the time lavished their top engineering talent with free lunches, on-site dry cleaning, nap pods and other luxury amenities.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 4, 2026
Many nights I lay awake in the shower of straw dust from the mattress above, trying to fathom the marvel of supply lavished upon us.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
Daphne and Eddie magnanimously turn the other cheek and then go back to lavishing one another with murmured compliments.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 29, 2026
Wall Street hasn’t exactly been lavishing the stock with praise lately.
From Barron's ● Apr. 29, 2026
For much of his second term, Trump has seemed to bestride the globe, lavishing his attention on a wide range of international issues.
From Slate ● Mar. 10, 2026
In exchange for lavishing billions of dollars upon MLB teams over the last couple of decades, local television providers demanded exclusivity.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 15, 2024
—With something like compunction for lavishing on Macrobius and his prosy compeers so many precious hours of a life that is waning fast, permit me to refer you to his Saturnalia, vii. 13., ed.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
