pecuniary
- of or relating to money: pecuniary difficulties.
- consisting of or given or exacted in money or monetary payments: pecuniary tributes.
- (of a crime, violation, etc.) involving a money penalty or fine.
Origin of pecuniary
Synonyms for pecuniary
Examples from the Web for pecuniarily
Historical Examples of pecuniarily
The more the guests ate and drank the better, pecuniarily, for their hosts.
Auld Licht IdyllsJ. M. Barrie
It's a good thing for him, and it's a good thing for me, pecuniarily.
The GhostWilliam. D. O'Connor
The treasure he had in her, culinarily and pecuniarily, though he didn't know it!
Folly as It FliesFanny Fern
But he had cannied and caddied in the wrong way, pecuniarily.
My LifeJosiah Flynt
From the social standpoint he had nothing to desire, and pecuniarily he was independent.
DustJulian Hawthorne
pecuniary
- consisting of or relating to money
- law (of an offence) involving a monetary penalty
Word Origin for pecuniary
Word Origin and History for pecuniarily
pecuniary
c.1500, from Latin pecuniarius "pertaining to money," from pecunia "money, property, wealth," from pecu "cattle, flock," from PIE root *peku- "wealth, movable property, livestock" (cf. Sanskrit pasu- "cattle," Gothic faihu "money, fortune," Old English feoh "cattle, money").
Livestock was the measure of wealth in the ancient world. For a possible parallel sense development in Old English, see fee, and cf., evolving in the other direction, cattle. Cf. also Welsh tlws "jewel," cognate with Irish tlus "cattle," connected via notion of "valuable thing."