nickel-and-dime
Americanadjective
verb (used with object)
-
to expose to financial hardship or bankruptcy by the accumulation of small expenses, bills, etc..
We're being nickel-and-dimed to death by these small weekly expenses.
-
to hinder, annoy, or harass with trivialities or nonessentials.
to be nickeled-and-dimed by petty criticisms.
Etymology
Origin of nickel-and-dime
First recorded in 1965–70
Vocabulary lists containing nickel-and-dime
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:
It’s so refreshing to see hotels that don’t nickel-and-dime you.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 15, 2026
But don’t nickel-and-dime your enjoyment of your life in order to punish yourself for financial decisions.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 10, 2025
That’s caused the run game to fade and forced Patrick Mahomes to lean more into a nickel-and-dime approach.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 16, 2025
Many teams are trying to slow down Kansas City’s offense by playing zone defenses, but the tradeoff is watching Travis Kelce nickel-and-dime his way down the field.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 15, 2023
Nothing—only the finest nickel-and-dime store in all the world!
From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith
My wife isn’t one to tolerate being nickel-and-dimed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2025
No team with a $240-million payroll can be accused of punting on a season, but no team that has nickel-and-dimed as much as these Dodgers have recently can be described as going for it either.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 2, 2023
“There was all this technical stuff I knew nothing about, but I just kinda nickel-and-dimed my way through.”
From The New Yorker ● Dec. 3, 2019
Merchandise at Pride isn’t new, necessarily, but it is the byproduct of Pride growing into a more commercial space where being nickel-and-dimed is the norm rather than the exception.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 20, 2019
“They’ve taken every single thing and just nickel-and-dimed consumers,” he said of the airlines.
From New York Times ● Jan. 23, 2017
Since Disney introduced Lightning Lanes in 2021, debate has raged over whether letting people pay for shorter waits is savvy crowd management or nickel-and-diming that divides people by income.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
Still, none of this may appease certain Norwegian regulars, who told MarketWatch that the new restrictions speak to a nickel-and-diming approach that takes the fun out of sailing the high seas.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2025
The airline sets cheap rates but ambushes customers with pesky little fees for every single facet of the flying experience, a nickel-and-diming scheme that bends not even for that glass of water.
From Slate ● Oct. 15, 2024
Some homeowners are nickel-and-diming their own coverage by forgoing protection against hurricanes or windstorms; finding ways to lower the replacement values of their properties, as Mr. Shiver did; or raising their deductibles.
From New York Times ● Feb. 16, 2024
All that nickel-and-diming adds up: In its last earnings report, Uber said it completed 2.1 billion trips in the fourth quarter of 2022, or 23 million trips per day.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 11, 2023
Ickes took his revenge: he began a campaign of nickeling-and-diming his adversaries, refusing to authorize their requests for cellular phones and moving the high-living Morris into a cheaper hotel suite.
From Time Magazine Archive
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.
