Adjacent Words

Profuse definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PROFU'SE, a. [L.profusus, profundo, to pour out; pro and fundo.]
1. Lavish; liberal to excess; prodigal; as a profuse government; a profuse administration. Henry the eighth, a profuse king, dissipated the treasures which the parsimony of his father had amassed. A man's friends are generally too profuse of praise, and his enemies too sparing.
2. Extravagant; lavish; as profuse expenditures.
3. Overabounding; exuberant.
On a green shady bank, profuse of flowers--
O liberty! thou goddess heavenly bright,
Profuse of bliss--
Profuse ornament in painting, architecture or gardening, as well as in dress or in language, shows a mean or corrupted taste.
PROFU'SE, v.t. s as z. To pour out. [Little used.]
1. To squander. [Little used.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: produced or growing in extreme abundance; "their riotous blooming" [syn: exuberant, lush, luxuriant, profuse, riotous]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Etymology: Middle English, from Latin profusus, past participle of profundere to pour forth, from pro- forth + fundere to pour — more at found Date: 15th century 1. pouring forth liberally ; extravagant <profuse in their thanks> 2. exhibiting great abundance ; bountiful <a profuse harvest> • profusely adverb • profuseness noun Synonyms: profuse, lavish, prodigal, luxuriant, lush, exuberant mean giving or given out in great abundance. profuse implies pouring forth without restraint <profuse apologies>. lavish suggests an unstinted or unmeasured profusion <a lavish party>. prodigal implies reckless or wasteful lavishness threatening to lead to early exhaustion of resources <prodigal spending>. luxuriant suggests a rich and splendid abundance <a luxuriant beard>. lush suggests rich, soft luxuriance <a lush green lawn>. exuberant implies marked vitality or vigor in what produces abundantly <an exuberant imagination>.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 (often foll. by in, of) lavish; extravagant (was profuse in her generosity). 2 (of a thing) exuberantly plentiful; abundant (profuse bleeding; a profuse variety). Derivatives: profusely adv. profuseness n. profusion n. Etymology: ME f. L profusus past part. of profundere profus- (as PRO-(1), fundere fus- pour)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Profuse Pro*fuse", v. t. To pour out; to give or spend liberally; to lavish; to squander. [Obs.] --Chapman.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Profuse Pro*fuse", a. [L. profusus, p. p. of profundere to pour forth or out; pro forward, forth + fundere to pour: cf. F. profus. See Fuse to melt.] 1. Pouring forth with fullness or exuberance; bountiful; exceedingly liberal; giving without stint; as, a profuse government; profuse hospitality. A green, shady bank, profuse of flowers. --Milton. 2. Superabundant; excessive; prodigal; lavish; as, profuse expenditure. ``Profuse ornament.'' --Kames. Syn: Lavish; exuberant; bountiful; prodigal; extravagant. Usage: Profuse, Lavish, Prodigal. Profuse denotes pouring out (as money, etc.) with great fullness or freeness; as, profuse in his expenditures, thanks, promises, etc. Lavish is stronger, implying unnecessary or wasteful excess; as, lavish of his bounties, favors, praises, etc. Prodigal is stronger still, denoting unmeasured or reckless profusion; as, prodigal of one's strength, life, or blood, to secure some object. --Dryden.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

1. Profuse sweating, bleeding, or vomiting is sweating, bleeding, or vomiting large amounts. ...a remedy that produces profuse sweating. ADJ: usu ADJ n • profusely He was bleeding profusely... ADV: ADV after v 2. If you offer profuse apologies or thanks, you apologize or thank someone a lot. Then the policeman recognised me, breaking into profuse apologies. ADJ: usu ADJ n • profusely They were very grateful to be put right and thanked me profusely. ADV: ADV after v

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Lavish, prodigal, improvident, extravagant, wasteful, too liberal, too bountiful. 2. Exuberant, over-abounding, in profusion, bountiful.

Moby Thesaurus

abounding, abundant, affluent, aggrandized, alive with, all-sufficing, ample, amplified, aplenty, ballyhooed, bighearted, bottomless, bounteous, bountiful, bristling, bursting, considerable, copious, crawling, crowded, crowding, diffuse, diffusive, disproportionate, dissipative, easy come, easy go, effuse, effusive, epidemic, exaggerated, excessive, exhaustless, exorbitant, extravagant, extreme, exuberant, fat, fecund, fertile, flush, formless, free, freehanded, freehearted, fruitful, full, galore, generous, giving, gracious, grandiloquent, greathearted, gushing, gushy, handsome, high-flown, hospitable, hyperbolic, immoderate, in plenty, in profusion, in quantity, incontinent, inexhaustible, inflated, inordinate, intemperate, jam-packed, jammed, large, largehearted, lavish, liberal, lush, luxuriant, magnanimous, magnified, many, maximal, much, munificent, numerous, open, openhanded, openhearted, opulent, overdone, overdrawn, overemphasized, overemphatic, overestimated, overflowing, overgenerous, overgreat, overlarge, overlavish, overliberal, overpraised, oversold, overstated, overstressed, overwrought, packed, penny-wise and pound-foolish, plenitudinous, plenteous, plentiful, plenty, pleonastic, populous, pound-foolish, prevailing, prevalent, princely, prodigal, productive, profligate, profusive, proliferating, prolific, puffed, rampant, redundant, reiterative, repetitive, replete, rich, rife, riotous, running over, spendthrift, stintless, stretched, studded, superabundant, superlative, swarming, tautologous, teeming, thick, thick as hail, thick with, thick-coming, thriving, thronged, thronging, touted, ungrudging, unselfish, unsparing, unstinted, unstinting, wasteful, wealthy, well-found, well-furnished, well-provided, well-stocked, wholesale