penurious
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Etymology
From Medieval Latin pēnūriōsus. See penury from Latin penuria (“want”), related to paene (“scarcely”), c. 1400. Compare French pénurie.
Adjective
penurious (comparative more penurious, superlative most penurious)
- Miserly; excessively cheap.
- The old man died a penurious wretch; eighty-thousand dollars in the mattress and as many holes in the roof.
- Not bountiful; thin; scant.
- The penurious stew would have been more accurately labelled broth.
- Impoverished; wanting for money.
- The poor penurious horde, naught in the cooking pot and naught in the belly.
- 1961 October, “Talking of Trains: Last of the M.S.W.J.R”, in Trains Illustrated, page 585:
- As the Swindon, Marlborough & Andover, conceived in 1872 and opened between the first two places in 1881 and to Andover and the L.S.W.R. in 1883, it was one of many small, ambitious and penurious Victorian lines, deeply concerned in the skulduggery characteristic of inter-railway dealings of that age and vexed by the G.W.R.
Synonyms
- See also Thesaurus:stingy
- See also Thesaurus:impoverished
- See also Thesaurus:pauper
Antonyms
- See also Thesaurus:spendthrift
Related terms
Translations
Wikiwand in your browser!
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
