skimp
Americanverb
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to be extremely sparing or supply (someone) sparingly; stint
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to perform (work, etc) carelessly, hastily, or with inadequate materials
Usage
What does skimp mean? Skimp most commonly means to provide too little or be stingy when supplying someone with something, as in This place always skimps on the salad dressing, so I usually order some extra on the side. The word is often used in the command don’t skimp, which is a request not to provide an amount that the speaker considers inadequate, as in Hey, don’t skimp on the ice cream—I want a big scoop!To skimp on materials when making or constructing something is to use ones that are low-quality or to use fewer than are needed to do the job properly. Skimp is a synonym of scrimp, but scrimp most commonly means to be frugal by finding ways to avoid spending money. It’s especially used in the phrase scrimp and save, as in We had to scrimp and save just to afford this trip. The adjective skimpy can mean stingy or lacking in some way. It’s especially used to describe an outfit that’s considered a bit revealing due to not covering as much as might be usual. Example: Don’t skimp on the butter when you make the cookies or they’ll turn out dry and brittle.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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skimpsimple
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skimpssimple
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have skimpedperfect
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has skimpedperfect
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am skimpingprogressive
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are skimpingprogressive
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is skimpingprogressive
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have been skimpingperfect progressive
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has been skimpingperfect progressive
Past
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skimpedsimple
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had skimpedperfect
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was skimpingprogressive
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were skimpingprogressive
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had been skimpingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of skimp
First recorded in 1875–80; origin uncertain
Explanation
The verb skimp refers to using a limited amount of something. When tomato prices are high, a cost-conscious restaurant might skimp on the amount of chopped tomatoes it puts on salads. Skimp can also describe getting by spending very little money, like someone who skimps in order to save for the future. You can also skimp on time and effort, like when you skimp on the amount of care you put into your math homework. Skimp is likely a variation of scrimp, which means "to make too small" and comes from the Swedish word skrumpna, meaning "to shrink, shrivel up."
Vocabulary lists containing skimp
Commonly Confused Words, List 2
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Commonly Confused Words, List 4
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Commonly Confused Words, List 8
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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:
Karia doesn’t skimp on it, but then again, neither did Shakespeare, and the film is faithful, even if nipped and tucked for running time’s sake.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 10, 2026
It’s what I like to call a maximalist egg — an egg, whether omelet, scrambled, or even hard-boiled, that doesn’t skimp on anything.
From Salon ● Mar. 21, 2026
Like many advisers, Mallon urges his older clients to prioritize their own needs — and live large — rather than skimp and save so that their heirs inherit more.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 13, 2026
Companies can’t skimp on either to drive investment returns over the long term, according to new research published by WSJ with Bendable Labs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2025
“After spending all this money, why skimp on the doorframe?”
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
He skimps on policy and skipped most of the preprimary debates; at the one he did attend, Marx brought his dog, a Dutch shepherd, onstage.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 19, 2026
A restaurant on the outskirts of Nairobi skimps on the size of its chapatis - a flaky, chewy Kenyan flatbread - to save on cooking oil.
From Washington Times ● Apr. 27, 2023
She allows Belly to be a teenager in all of her messy glory, but never skimps on the enthusiastic charisma and vulnerability that lends authenticity.
From Salon ● Dec. 26, 2022
The exhibition at David Nolan skimps on inside intelligence.
From New York Times ● Oct. 6, 2022
He skimps the table, pares the cheese till the rind is as thin as paper, and makes her live on skim milk and barley.
From Dutch Fairy Tales for Young Folks by William Elliot Griffis
Nietzsche said God is dead, but skimped on details of how we’d deal with the corpse.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 30, 2026
Companies have skimped on dividends amid an epic bull run for stock prices, leaving the S&P 500’s yield of just 1.1% looking like finance’s vestigial tailbone—an evolutionary holdover without a clear purpose.
From Barron's ● Nov. 21, 2025
Citroen's Koskas said the carmaker had no desire to make the new C3 a "technological Christmas tree" but had not skimped on what mattered.
From Reuters ● Oct. 17, 2023
After she learned she could not get paid for the last weeks of the semester, she dipped into savings and skimped on meals.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 3, 2023
I had no time to tell him that his friend Rasseem had not skimped either.
From "The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams" by Daniel Nayeri
That hasn’t stopped some people from posting pictures and videos on social media of scrawny sandwiches, accusing the company of skimping on meat portions since Blackstone got involved.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
"Sometimes I would have asked my mum after we'd ended up in hospital overnight if she could transfer me money as I wasn't expecting to be here, we were skimping to get by," she said.
From BBC ● Apr. 17, 2026
Thankfully, there’s no skimping on production design to be found here.
From Salon ● Dec. 3, 2025
And with good reason: This is a fantastically outlandish production that delivers a kind of large-scale razzmatazz that has become rare — no skimping here.
From New York Times ● Nov. 27, 2024
On a bracing afternoon, he escorted Weaver into the Radiation Laboratory and showed him the twenty-seven-inch cyclotron, not skimping on the vaudeville of the lavender deuteron beam shooting into the air.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
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.
