stingy

stingy
adjective (stingier; -est) Etymology: perhaps from English dialect *stinge, noun, sting; akin to Old English stingan to sting Date: 1659 1. not generous or liberal ; sparing or scant in using, giving, or spending <
stingy with the salt
>
<
stingy employee benefits
>
2. meanly scanty or small <
stingy portions of meat
>
stingily adverbstinginess noun Synonyms: stingy, close, niggardly, parsimonious, penurious, miserly mean being unwilling or showing unwillingness to share with others. stingy implies a marked lack of generosity <
a stingy child, not given to sharing
>
. close suggests keeping a tight grip on one's money and possessions <
folks who are very close when charity calls
>
. niggardly implies giving or spending the very smallest amount possible <
the niggardly amount budgeted for the town library
>
. parsimonious suggests a frugality so extreme as to lead to stinginess <
a parsimonious lifestyle notably lacking in luxuries
>
. penurious implies niggardliness that gives an appearance of actual poverty <
the penurious eccentric bequeathed a fortune
>
. miserly suggests a sordid avariciousness and a morbid pleasure in hoarding <
a miserly couple devoid of social conscience
>
.

New Collegiate Dictionary. 2001.

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  • stingy — stingy, close, closefisted, tight, tightfisted, niggardly, parsimonious, penurious, miserly, cheeseparing, penny pinching can mean unwilling or manifesting unwillingness to share one s goods with others or to give to another a part of one s… …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • Stingy — Stin gy, a. [Compar. {Stingier}; superl. {Stingiest}.] [Probably from sting, and meaning originally, stinging; hence, biting, nipping (of the wind), churlish, avaricious; or cf. E. skinch.] Extremely close and covetous; meanly avaricious;… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • stingy — niggardly, penurious, tight fisted, 1650s, possibly a dialectal alteration of earlier stingy biting, sharp, stinging (1610s), from STING (Cf. sting) (v.). Back formation stinge a stingy person is recorded from 1914 …   Etymology dictionary

  • Stingy — Sting y, a. Stinging; able to sting. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Stingy — may refer to one of the following:*A miser *The name of a fictional puppet character on LazyTown …   Wikipedia

  • stingy — index illiberal, nonsubstantial (not sufficient), parsimonious, penurious, provident (frugal) Burton s Legal Thesaurus …   Law dictionary

  • stingy — [adj] penny pinching, averse to spending money acquisitive, avaricious, chary, cheap, chintzy*, churlish, close, close fisted, costive, covetous, curmudgeonly, economical, extortionate, frugal, grasping, greedy, grudging, ignoble, illiberal,… …   New thesaurus

  • stingy — ► ADJECTIVE (stingier, stingiest) informal ▪ mean; ungenerous. DERIVATIVES stingily adverb stinginess noun. ORIGIN perhaps a dialect variant of STING(Cf. ↑stinger) …   English terms dictionary

  • stingy — stingy1 [stin′jē] adj. stingier, stingiest [< * stinge, dial. form of STING] 1. giving or spending grudgingly or only through necessity; mean; miserly 2. less than needed or expected; scanty stingily adv. stinginess n. SYN. STINGY1 …   English World dictionary

  • stingy — stingy1 stingily, adv. stinginess, n. /stin jee/, adj., stingier, stingiest. 1. reluctant to give or spend; not generous; niggardly; penurious: He s a stingy old miser. 2. scanty or meager: a stingy little income. [1650 60; perh. deriv. of STING; …   Universalium

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