prodigal

«prodigal» in Mova's school dictionary: the young man in Jesus's story who wastes his father's… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

adjective (prodigal); noun (a prodigal, prodigals)

meaning for a pupil

1) (Bible) The prodigal son is the young man in Jesus's story who wastes his father's money, comes home sorry, and is welcomed with love. tree →

2) (formal) Spending money or things too freely and wastefully. tree →

3) (noun, humorous) Someone who comes back home after being away a long time, especially after doing wrong: «the prodigal returns». tree →

sense in the lessons

In religion lessons the parable of the prodigal son teaches forgiveness: the father runs to hug the son who came back. In everyday speech people joke «the prodigal returns» when someone comes home late or after a long absence. Phrases: «the prodigal son», «prodigal with money».

examples

• Jesus told the story of the prodigal son to show God's love. tree →
• The prodigal son spent all his money and ended up feeding pigs. tree →
• His father threw a party when the prodigal came home. tree →
• «Look, the prodigal returns!» said Gran when my cousin finally visited. tree →
• The king was prodigal with gold and soon the treasury was empty. tree →
• Our teacher asked who we felt sorry for in the story of the prodigal son. tree →
• The older brother was angry about the feast for the prodigal. tree →

note

Many people think «prodigal» means «coming back home», but its real meaning is «wasteful»; the son is called prodigal because he wasted money. Not usually used for people today except in the phrase. Noun prodigality (formal).

In the corpora

• In the Prodigal Son a younger son took his share of his father's money, wasted it, and came home ashamed.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «prodigal» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.