stingy

¹

[ stin-jee ]

adjective

, stin·gi·er, stin·gi·est.

1. reluctant to give or spend; not generous; penurious:

   He's a stingy old miser.

   Synonyms: tight

   Antonyms: unselfish, liberal, generous

2. scanty or meager:

   a stingy little income.

   Synonyms: poor, paltry, sparse

stingy

²

[ sting-ee ]

adjective

1. having a sting.

stingy

¹

/ ˈstɪŋɪ /

adjective

1. informal.
   stinging or capable of stinging

noun

1. dialect.
   a stinging nettle

   I put my hand on a stingy

stingy

²

/ ˈstɪndʒɪ /

adjective

1. unwilling to spend or give
2. insufficient or scanty

Derived Forms

• ˈstinginess, noun
• ˈstingily, adverb

Other Words From

• stin·gi·ly adverb
• stin·gi·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of stingy¹

First recorded in 1650–60; perhaps derivative of sting; -y ¹

Origin of stingy²

First recorded in 1605–15; sting + -y ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of stingy¹

C17 (perhaps in the sense: ill-tempered): perhaps from stinge, dialect variant of sting

Synonym Study

Stingy, parsimonious, miserly, mean, close all mean reluctant to part with money or goods. Stingy, the most general of these terms, means unwilling to share, give, or spend possessions or money: children who are stingy with their toys; a stingy, grasping skinflint. Parsimonious describes an extreme stinginess arising from unusual or excessive frugality: a sternly parsimonious, penny-pinching existence. Miserly stresses a pathological pleasure in acquiring and hoarding money that is so powerful that even necessities are only grudgingly purchased: a wretched, miserly way of life. Mean suggests a small-minded, ignoble, petty stinginess leading to miserable, cheerless living: depressingly mean with his money; mean surroundings; a mean repast. Close implies extreme caution in spending money, even an aversion to spending: a close dealer, buying only at rock bottom prices; generous with advice, but very close with his money.

Example Sentences

It is a small price to pay to punish the first player for being so stingy.

From Freakonomics

When it was the dogs’ turn to offer food to their human partners, the canines were no more likely to press the button to provide food for the helpful human than for the stingy one.

From Science News

On the other end, he put up the seventh-best season in defensive RAPTOR, laying the foundation for the league’s second-stingiest defense overall.

From FiveThirtyEight

Even with their newly potent offense, the Hawks will have their work cut out for them in a first round, as they match up with a stingy New York Knicks team that allowed the fewest points of any team this season.

From FiveThirtyEight

Like many of the walled gardens — all of which are known for being stingy with access to information — Twitter may be hesitant to provide the level of access necessary for MRC to conduct its audits.

From Digiday

His post-election press conference was too long, too provocative, and too stingy in his phoned-in praise for the winners.

From The Daily Beast

The city is notoriously stingy with snow days, closing schools less than 10 times since 1978, including Friday.

From The Daily Beast

Any way you look at it, corporate America has been very stingy.

From The Daily Beast

Tired of being a poster child for stingy salaries, Walmart snarkily takes a leading left-wing critic to task.

From The Daily Beast

John Paul Getty, Jr. was a major philanthropist, to a slew of causes, and he was not stingy.

From The Daily Beast

He smiled a little, in his stingy way of doing it, taking her hand to allay her tumult of distress.

From Project Gutenberg

Let us rather remember that the Rev. Matthew Gibson was crazed, stingy withal, and had no child by his wife.

From Project Gutenberg

"It would be cruel to demand a large sum from that old and stingy man," remarked Le Glorieux.

From Project Gutenberg

"Since he knows so well how to make gold, I wonder why he is so stingy," whispered the jester to Antoine.

From Project Gutenberg

Kichibei, the eel-broiler, on finding this out, thought he would charge his stingy neighbor for the smell of his eels.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• frugal
• greedy
• miserly
• selfish
• thrifty