skinflint
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of skinflint
Explanation
A skinflint is someone who only shops at bargain stores, never orders dessert, and in general hates spending money. It's not a nice word, so if you're trying to compliment someone, better to call them "thrifty" or "frugal." A flint is a kind of rock that was used in the olden days to start a fire. If you didn't want to buy a new flint, you'd use an old one over and over again, "skinning" it — that is, wearing it down until it's as thin as skin. So someone who did that would be called a skinflint. It's another way of saying that someone will try to squeeze a penny out of anything.
Vocabulary lists containing skinflint
Scrooge, Grinch, and Churl: Wonderful Words for Unpleasant People
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Lyddie
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Walden
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He has poured a ridiculous amount of his own money into his team’s roster to transform the skinflint Mets into a financial juggernaut.
From The Wall Street Journal • Sep. 29, 2025
After a relationship marked by Turner being neat freak and a skinflint, they broke up after he shamed her for gaining 10 pounds.
From Salon • Dec. 2, 2023
Brown had gone from wise guy to wise man, from skinflint to a bit of a spendthrift; the bullet train caught his eye and his imagination, though it also courted controversy.
From Los Angeles Times • May 8, 2020
To his admirers, Mr. O’Rahilly was a renegade visionary and a skinflint con man who sometimes liked to find creative ways to leave posh restaurants without paying for his meals.
From Washington Post • Apr. 24, 2020
“Now stop acting like a skinflint and let’s get the money.”
From "The Cricket in Times Square" by George Selden
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
