LAVISH

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does lavish mean? 

• LAVISH (adjective)
  The adjective LAVISH has 2 senses:

1. very generous

2. characterized by extravagance and profusion

  Familiarity information: LAVISH used as an adjective is rare.

• LAVISH (verb)
  The verb LAVISH has 1 sense:

1. expend profusely; also used with abstract nouns

  Familiarity information: LAVISH used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LAVISH (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Very generous

Synonyms:

lavish; munificent; overgenerous; too-generous; unsparing; unstinted; unstinting

Context example:

called for unstinting aid to Britain

Similar:

generous (willing to give and share unstintingly)

Derivation:

lavishness (excessive spending)

lavishness (the quality possessed by something that is excessively expensive)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Characterized by extravagance and profusion

Synonyms:

lavish; lucullan; plush; plushy

Context example:

a lucullan feast

Similar:

rich (suggestive of or characterized by great expense)

Derivation:

lavishness (the quality possessed by something that is excessively expensive)

• LAVISH (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they lavish    ... he / she / it lavishes   
Past simple: lavished   
Past participle: lavished   
-ing form: lavishing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Expend profusely; also used with abstract nouns

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

lavish; shower

Context example:

He was showered with praise

Hypernyms (to "lavish" is one way to...):

consume; squander; ware; waste (spend extravagantly)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something on somebody

Sentence example:

They lavish money on their grandchild

 Context examples 

Beginning here, as though regretting her parsimony, Nature had spread his features with a lavish hand.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Nature spills it out with a lavish hand.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

If anyone had known the care lavished on that dolly, I think it would have touched their hearts, even while they laughed.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Whether it was a lavish gift or a simple handwritten letter, it was the gesture that counted for you.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

She had scarcely a stronger regret than for her past coldness; and the person, whom she had been so many months neglecting, was now the very one on whom she would have lavished every distinction of regard or sympathy.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Half the sum of attraction, on either side, might have been enough, for he had nothing to do, and she had hardly anybody to love; but the encounter of such lavish recommendations could not fail.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

He is not of your order: keep to your caste, and be too self-respecting to lavish the love of the whole heart, soul, and strength, where such a gift is not wanted and would be despised.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

At the Kings' she daily saw all she wanted, for the children's older sisters were just out, and Meg caught frequent glimpses of dainty ball dresses and bouquets, heard lively gossip about theaters, concerts, sleighing parties, and merrymakings of all kinds, and saw money lavished on trifles which would have been so precious to her.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

He was employed in a vague personal capacity—while he remained with Cody he was in turn steward, mate, skipper, secretary, and even jailor, for Dan Cody sober knew what lavish doings Dan Cody drunk might soon be about and he provided for such contingencies by reposing more and more trust in Gatsby.

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)