squander
- 01 C2 Proficiency
to spread out or scatter in different directions.
to scatter or disperse; to cause to move in different directions.
Simple“The sudden gust of wind served to squander the dry leaves across the lawn.”
In context“The commander's primary error was to squander his forces across too wide a front, leaving the centre vulnerable to a concentrated attack.”
Teacher's tipThis sense is rare in modern English; students will mostly encounter it in 18th or 19th-century literature.
“The Celtic captain, Callum McGregor, fired a deflected 20-yard shot off the inside of a post as chances kept coming in the second half, and Usor squandered two excellent opportunities.”
Earliest uses (late 16th c.) "to spend recklessly or prodigiously", also "to scatter over a wide area". Of unknown origin. Perhaps a blend of scatter + wander. Compare Danish skvætte (rare)/skvatte (“to splash”) (nominalised: skvæt), Icelandic skvetta (“to squirt”), Swedish skvätta (“to splash”), Norwegian Bokmål skvette.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.