Syn. — Benefit; avail; service; improvement; advancement; gain; emolument.
Profit
(Prof"it), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Profited; p. pr. & vb. n. Profiting.] [F. profiter. See Profit, n.] To
be of service to; to be good to; to help on; to benefit; to advantage; to avail; to aid; as, truth profits all men.
The word preached did not profit them.
Heb. iv. 2.
It is a great means of profiting yourself, to copy diligently excellent pieces and beautiful designs.
Dryden. Profit
(Prof"it), v. i.
1. To gain advantage; to make improvement; to improve; to gain; to advance.
I profit not by thy talk.
Shak. 2. To be of use or advantage; to do or bring good.
Riches profit not in the day of wrath.
Prov. xi. 4. Profitable
(Prof"it*a*ble) a. [F. profitable.] Yielding or bringing profit or gain; gainful; lucrative; useful; helpful; advantageous; beneficial; as,
a profitable trade; profitable business; a profitable study or profession.
What was so profitable to the empire became fatal to the
emperor.
Arbuthnot. — Prof"it*a*ble*ness, n. — Prof"it*a*bly, adv.
Profiting
(Prof"it*ing), n. Gain; advantage; profit.
That thy profiting may appear to all.
1 Tim. iv. 15. Profitless
(Prof"it*less), a. Without profit; unprofitable. Shak.
Profligacy
(Prof"li*ga*cy) n. [See Profligate, a.] The quality of state of being profligate; a profligate or
very vicious course of life; a state of being abandoned in moral principle and in vice; dissoluteness.
Profligate
(Prof"li*gate) a. [L. profligatus, p. p. of profligare to strike or dash to the ground, to destroy;
pro before + a word akin to fligere to strike. See Afflict.]
1. Overthrown; beaten; conquered. [Obs.]
The foe is profligate, and run.
Hudibras. 2. Broken down in respect of rectitude, principle, virtue, or decency; openly and shamelessly immoral or
vicious; dissolute; as, profligate man or wretch.
A race more profligate than we.
Roscommon.
Made prostitute and profligate muse.
Dryden. Syn. — Abandoned; corrupt; dissolute; vitiated; depraved; vicious; wicked. See Abandoned.
Profligate
(Prof"li*gate), n. An abandoned person; one openly and shamelessly vicious; a dissolute person.
"Such a profligate as Antony." Swift.
Profligate
(Prof"li*gate) v. t. To drive away; to overcome. [A Latinism] [Obs.] Harvey.
