frugal
[froo-guh l]
- 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.
- entailing little expense; requiring few resources; meager; scanty: a frugal meal.
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Origin of frugal
Synonym study
Economical, thrifty, frugal imply careful and saving use of resources. 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. Frugal emphasizes being saving, sometimes excessively saving, especially in such matters as food or dress: frugal almost to the point of being stingy.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for frugally
Contemporary Examples
It is run effectively and frugally by Walter Olson, who in his day job runs the famous Overlawyered blog.
Historical Examples
My model and I went out and celebrated appropriately but frugally.
Southern Lights and ShadowsVarious
You must earn the money, and I will spend it frugally as we both require it.
In the Roar of the SeaSabine Baring-Gould
Live as frugally as you can, put by every penny you can save.
The IntriguersWilliam Le Queux
Of the latter she remarks that they do not live so frugally as the Arabs.
Celebrated Women Travellers of the Nineteenth CenturyW. H. Davenport Adams
That the boarding Scholars diet together, plainly, temperately, and frugally.
Benjamin FranklinFrank Luther Mott
frugal
- practising economy; living without waste; thrifty
- not costly; meagre
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Word Origin
C16: from Latin frūgālis, from frūgī useful, temperate, from frux fruit
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for frugally
frugal
adj.
1590s, from Middle French frugal, from Latin frugalis, from undeclined adj. frugi "useful, proper, worthy, honest; temperate, economical," originally dative of frux (plural fruges) "fruit, produce," figuratively "value, result, success," related to fructus (see fruit). Sense evolved in Latin from "useful" to "profitable" to "economical." Related: Frugally.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper