economize
Americanverb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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economizesimple
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economizessimple
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have economizedperfect
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has economizedperfect
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am economizingprogressive
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are economizingprogressive
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is economizingprogressive
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have been economizingperfect progressive
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has been economizingperfect progressive
Past
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economizedsimple
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had economizedperfect
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was economizingprogressive
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were economizingprogressive
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had been economizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of economize
Explanation
To economize is to be frugal — to be careful not to waste anything, including money. You may need to economize on heating oil, keeping the temperature in your apartment on the nippy side during the winter. Giving a kid an allowance is one way to teach her to economize, spending it carefully in an attempt to save some and make the rest last. Unless money is no object, most people need to economize to some extent, being frugal and avoiding waste. In the 17th century, to economize was "to govern a household," from economy, at the time "household management," from the Greek oikonomia, "household management or thrift."
Vocabulary lists containing economize
Night
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The Catcher in the Rye
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Before We Were Free
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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.
See Examples For:
Rubino says she’s aiming to economize as much as possible — and that means everything from buying lower-priced candy in bulk to reusing baskets from previous Easters.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 2, 2026
“Once you get this intense level of demand for these goods in a given geographic region, it makes sense to essentially establish a stocking location nearby to economize on transportation costs,” Miller said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 19, 2026
Banks would economize on their reserve holdings and, in turn, depend less on reserves.
From Barron's ● Feb. 20, 2026
Another way couples economize on weddings is to have that dream destination wedding, knowing that some people just won’t go.
From Slate ● Apr. 29, 2024
Mother had spent a good bit of money buying us new outfits so that we would make a good impression in California, and she thought she ought to economize on train accommodations.
From "Cheaper by the Dozen" by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
Monique Louvigny, an event coordinator in the San Francisco Bay Area, economizes where she can.
From New York Times ● Jan. 6, 2024
Even laboratory mice, if deprived of food, can enter a state called torpor, a kind of standby mode that economizes energy.
From New York Times ● May 25, 2023
“That’s one of the reasons why he’s a pretty effective leader — it’s because he economizes words,” said Josh Holmes, a former chief of staff for Mr. McConnell who remains close to him.
From New York Times ● Mar. 20, 2018
The method of committing by wholes instead of parts not only economizes time and effort in the learning, but also gives a better sense of unity and meaning to the matter memorized.
From The Mind and Its Education by Betts, George Herbert
There is a limit to the length of a period that economizes attention; and there is a limit to the number of successive periods which a reader can endure.
From English: Composition and Literature by Webster, W. F. (William Franklin)
She began with an incisive reading of Webern’s Six Pieces for Orchestra, keeping her conducting elegantly restrained, even economized — gestures that befitted this sharply angled, brief set.
From New York Times ● Apr. 5, 2024
Jewison economized by having his cinematographer use a hand-held camera instead of fancier equipment.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 22, 2024
Jane and Maria economized and traded on their fame by making lengthy sojourns in the homes of the wealthy patrons they cultivated.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 25, 2022
There may be no more tiny, fragile body than Charlie Brown’s—the abbreviated torso, economized limbs, and naked, vulnerable head.
From The New Yorker ● Aug. 6, 2019
The fodder thus economized will go to the horses, although there is a whisper in the air that one eminent savant has recommended their immediate slaughter and salting also.
From An Englishman in Paris Notes and Recollections by Albert D.
Dollar stores aren’t the only retail option when it comes to economizing on Easter spending.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 2, 2026
The pilot programs have taken different approaches to economizing.
From Washington Times ● Apr. 20, 2023
He doesn’t think economizing on lighting will dissuade tourists from coming to the city, which holds two Christmas markets that attract hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 25, 2022
Yes, even in the midst of the Great Recession, customers were economizing on Starbucks, but not on more expensive brews.
From Slate ● Nov. 5, 2015
I walked over to Madison Avenue and started to wait around for a bus because I didn't have hardly any money left and I had to start economizing on cabs and all.
From "The Catcher in the Rye" by J. D. Salinger
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.
