penny-pinching
Britishadjective
Other Word Forms
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.
What’s happening now is a mix of penny-pinching and finger-pointing.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 24, 2026
As the child of penny-pinching Sicilian parents, I’m all too familiar with the dread surrounding the thermostat come midwinter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 23, 2026
The issue stems from an unconventional bit of penny-pinching from the world's richest man.
From Salon ● Mar. 20, 2025
In the penny-pinching era, railroads “didn’t want to put money back into the infrastructure, including on-duty facilities,” said Jeremy Ferguson of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers, Norfolk’s biggest union.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 26, 2024
I never thought I'd be agreeing with Old Man Dawson, the penny-pinching old land-thief—and a fine briber he is, too.
From Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
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.