frugal
Americanadjective
-
economical in use or expenditure; prudently saving or sparing; not wasteful.
What your office needs is a frugal manager who can save you money without resorting to painful cutbacks.
- Antonyms:
- profligate, prodigal, spendthrift, extravagant, wasteful
-
entailing little expense; requiring few resources; meager; scanty.
a frugal meal.
adjective
-
practising economy; living without waste; thrifty
-
not costly; meagre
Related Words
Frugal, economical, thrifty imply careful and saving use of resources. Frugal emphasizes being saving, sometimes excessively saving, especially in such matters as food or dress: frugal almost to the point of being stingy. Economical implies prudent planning in the disposition of resources so as to avoid unnecessary waste or expense: economical in budgeting household expenditures. Thrifty is a stronger word than economical and adds to it the idea of industry and successful management: a thrifty shopper looking for bargains.
Other Word Forms
- frugality noun
- frugally adverb
- frugalness noun
- nonfrugal adjective
- nonfrugalness noun
- overfrugal adjective
- unfrugal adjective
- unfrugalness noun
Etymology
Origin of frugal
First recorded in 1590–1600; from Latin frūgālis “economical,” derivative of the indeclinable adjective frūgī (dative singular of frūx “produce, fruit”) + -ālis adjective suffix; fruit, -al 1
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.
A "frugal" woman has been hailed a money-saving genius after posting a month's worth of clothing for £2.59 to avoid a £30 luggage charge on a flight.
From BBC • Mar. 3, 2026
But Rome and Berlin have often been at odds, not least over matters of money -- frugal Germany versus debt-laden Italy.
From Barron's • Feb. 11, 2026
The companies winning today are those that have localized their supply chains and their design language to match a more frugal, nationalistic and tech-savvy consumer.
From MarketWatch • Jan. 27, 2026
But even frugal Germany signed on, despite its longstanding opposition to this funding model.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 19, 2025
So they spent the summer making their own frugal way among the scientific landmarks of Europe.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
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.
