An Americanism first recorded in 1970–75
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Mr. Glassman might be an effective bean counter, but that is not nearly enough to justify his having a seat on the Maryland Board of Public Works.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 21, 2022
It would not bother me in the least to give my niece the higher amount, because I’m not a bean counter.
From Slate ● May 26, 2021
There no bean counter with a backbone stiff enough to hold the reins.
From Washington Times ● May 23, 2019
Yet he resented the notion that he was just an astute bean counter.
From New York Times ● Nov. 8, 2017
A Louisville native, he earned degrees in finance and accounting at Western Kentucky University and wanted nothing more than to be a bean counter.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 21, 2017
Balding and bespectacled, with a greying beard, Vought's public statements typically have the measured cadence of a bean-counter or professor.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2025
CEO Phil Condit led the merger with McDonnell Douglas, but the latter’s bean-counter culture began to infest the company.
From Seattle Times ● May 13, 2022
It’s such a bean-counter, studio exec note: “What’s the comp for that?”
From New York Times ● Mar. 17, 2022
It makes sense all the same, at least from a bean-counter point of view.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 27, 2017
That doesn’t mean you have to become a bean-counter who tallies every single act of friendship and doesn’t make a move until someone moves a point ahead.
From Slate ● Sep. 12, 2017
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.
