penny-pinching 1 of 2

adjective

Definition of penny-pinchingnext
as in careful
giving or sharing as little as possible the new CEO's penny-pinching ways have helped to keep the company out of bankruptcy

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

penny-pinching

2 of 2

noun

ˈpe-nē-ˌpin-chiŋ How to pronounce penny-pinching (audio)
1
as in saving
careful management of material resources they'll have to practice some penny-pinching if they want to save for a house

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in economy
the quality or practice of being overly sparing with money reusing your tea bags is perhaps taking penny-pinching too far

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of penny-pinching
Noun
The penny-pinching paid off in 2023, when Berry bought her two-bedroom, one-bath home in Charleston, Tennessee, a small town about 45 miles outside of Chattanooga. — Alex Veiga, Fortune, 20 May 2026 But for now, penny-pinching can be accomplished with relatively inconsequential basketball moves. — Bennett Durando, Denver Post, 1 Feb. 2026 Some of these treats date as far back as the 1700s, while others were developed during the penny-pinching of the Great Depression or the liveliness of the 1950s. — Mack Swenson, Southern Living, 4 Dec. 2025 Everton have spent around £90million ($122m) so far this summer, a considerable departure from the days of penny-pinching towards the end of former owner Farhad Moshiri’s tenure. — Patrick Boyland, New York Times, 15 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for penny-pinching
  1. careful
  2. saving
  3. economy
  4. selfish
  5. frugality
  6. economizing
  7. miserly
  8. thrift
Adjective
  • Along with potentially leeching microplastics into your food, plastic food storage containers absorb stains, odors, and flavors, and many require careful hand-washing to prevent them from warping.
    — Caley Sturgill, Southern Living, 29 Oct. 2026
  • Gallery visitors were careful not to step on the sprawling assemblage of photographs, drawings and artifacts scattered across the floor.
    — Jane Horowitz, Los Angeles Times, 29 Oct. 2026
Definition of careful
Noun
  • What readers are saying The comments overwhelmingly express a preference for permanent standard time over daylight saving time, with many arguing that the biannual time changes are unnecessary and disruptive.
    — Lauren Mazzo, Washington Post, 24 Oct. 2026
  • Only a few decades later, environmentalists recast wilderness as something that needed saving.
    — M. R. O’Connor, New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2026
Definition of saving
Noun
  • Many African policymakers responded that advanced economies built their wealth on coal and oil, adding that Africa accounts for less than 4% of global carbon emissions.
    — Alexis Akwagyiram, semafor.com, 28 Oct. 2026
  • Consumers have generally soured on an economy weighed down by more expensive gas, groceries, and clothing, among other items.
    — Christopher Rugaber, Chicago Tribune, 28 Oct. 2026
Definition of economy
Adjective
  • Also on Weekend Update, James Austin Johnson portrayed a selfish Kevin O’Leary, the Shark Tank investor who is backing a massive data center campus in northwest Utah.
    — William Vaillancourt, Rolling Stone, 11 Oct. 2026
  • That’s also how Violet is thinking about their portrayal of Maureen, whose eccentric performance art and selfish behavior often give the character a bad rap.
    — Ellise Shafer, Variety, 8 Oct. 2026
Definition of selfish
Noun
  • Consider the late Queen Elizabeth II wearing chartreuse to stand out in a crowd, or Princess Anne signaling a paradoxical lesson in royal frugality by rewearing a 42-year-old dress.
    — Eva Wolchover, Vanity Fair, 13 Oct. 2026
  • Tom’s frugality also lured Nancy into the business on the pretense of spending more time together.
    — Tim Graham, New York Times, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of frugality
Noun
  • Inflation continues to pressure consumers The holiday economizing comes as Americans continue to battle inflation, which rose after the COVID-19 pandemic to levels not seen since the 1980s.
    — Alexander Coolidge, Cincinnati Enquirer, 11 Nov. 2025
Definition of economizing
Adjective
  • When not making inflammatory political statements, United co-owner Jim Ratcliffe is committed to a miserly mantra of cost-saving prudence.
    — Conor O'Neill, New York Times, 15 Oct. 2026
  • The plot involves two sons of rich, miserly fathers in love with girls their fathers will never approve of and what happens when the fathers’ devious servants decide to give the boys a hand.
    — Lonnie Burstein Hewitt, San Diego Union-Tribune, 29 July 2026
Definition of miserly
Noun
  • Today’s online recommerce market, just like the thrift stores and consignment shops that came before it, was driven by shoppers looking for deals to save money.
    — Arthur Zaczkiewicz, Footwear News, 26 Oct. 2026
  • Its thrift store is stocked with clothes and items collected during student move-outs when many items get left behind, including Halloween costumes and accessories.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 24 Oct. 2026
Definition of thrift

Browse Nearby Words

penny-pinchers
penny-pinching
penny-wise
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Penny-pinching.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/penny-pinching. Accessed 31 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of wraith

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Pwn, Skibidi, Girlboss and Other Words Added to the 2026 Scrabble Dictionary

The Words of the Week - Oct. 30

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
different halloween monsters in silhouette
A Monstrous Vocab Quiz Words That Go Bump in the Night
See All