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
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; see origin at fruit, -al 1
Explanation
A person who lives simply and economically can be called frugal. Buying clothes at a consignment shop would be considered frugal. Not getting your mom a gift for her birthday — that's just cheap. Thrifty, spartan, and prudent are synonyms for frugal, a word that often has positive connotations when used to describe a person who lives a simple life. "The question for retailers is whether shoppers will remain frugal or slowly resume their old spending habits whenever they get more money in their pockets," wrote The Wall Street Journal. You might also speak of "a frugal meal" — a very plain, cheap one. The word is from Latin frux, meaning "fruit" (in the sense of "profit").
Vocabulary lists containing frugal
100 Top "SAT" Words
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Grade 10, List 1
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"The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant
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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.
And when does the price of a hotel room become — as it did for Glusac, who writes “The Frugal Traveler” column at the New York Times — money well spent?
From MarketWatch • Nov. 22, 2025
Natalie Smith, who lives on the coast near Hythe, runs the Frugal Mum website and has written a top 15 of places to visit in the county.
From BBC • May 29, 2025
Jen Smith and Jill Sirianni, authors of “Buy What You Love Without Going Broke” and hosts of Frugal Friends Podcast, often quote Pant’s mantra, “You can afford anything, but not everything.”
From Salon • May 24, 2025
Travel: Here’s what the Frugal Traveler columnist has learned about travel on a budget.
From New York Times • Jan. 24, 2024
Frugal in their domestic life, the Florentines strove to maintain habits of frugality by strict sumptuary laws.
From Outline of Universal History by Fisher, George Park
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.
