verb · 5 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
UK:/ˈskwɒnd.ə/
UK:[ˈskwɒn.də]
US:/ˈskwɑn.dɚ/
US:[ˈskwɑn.dɚ]
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
rhymes with -ɒndə(ɹ)
CMU ARPABET:S K W AA1 N D ER0
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
verb
Meaning 1
To waste, lavish, splurge; to spend lavishly or profusely; to dissipate.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
Examples
.
1886, Cora Pearl, Memoirs. "I have squandered money enormously.... I ought to have saved, but saving is not easy in such a whirl of excitement as that in which I have lived."
1746, Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanac Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is made of.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: waste, lavish, splurge, slather, throw away, make ducks and drakes of, play ducks and drakes with, blow
Antonyms: none provided
2
verb
Meaning 2
To scatter; to disperse.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
3
verb
Meaning 3
To wander at random; to scatter.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
