mingy
Americanadjective
adjective
Etymology
Origin of mingy
First recorded in 1885–90; m(ean) 2 + (st)ingy 1
Explanation
If you're mingy, you're a penny pincher — in other words, you are not generous about spending your money or sharing it with others. A mingy friend won't offer to buy you lunch, or even a jawbreaker. The adjective mingy is an informal way to describe people who don't like to part with their money, people you might describe as miserly. A mingy restaurant patron is likely to leave a very small tip for his waiter, and it could take years before you get a raise if you work for a mingy boss. Mingy can be used as a variation on stingy, and in fact it probably came from a combination of mean and stingy.
Vocabulary lists containing mingy
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.
That vaguely mingy silhouette, so far in class terms from the fat-knot ties and lavish woolens of Savile Row suits favored by City types then and now, had an appealingly outsider air.
From New York Times ● Jan. 15, 2011
But it's a mean, mingy thing — a lot of personal pique and inside baseball.
From Time ● Sep. 23, 2010
He specialized in bland, thick architectural effects coupled with the sort of mingy "good taste" decoration later imitated in Edwardian hotels.
From Time Magazine Archive
His success was evident in the mostly mingy responses of his opponents.
From Time Magazine Archive
It is rare to see such a fastidious imagination expressing itself through such deliberately mingy means.
From Time Magazine Archive
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
