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tightwad

[ tahyt-wod ]
/ ˈtaɪtˌwɒd /
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noun Informal.

a close-fisted or stingy person.

RELATED WORDS

stiff, Scrooge, churl, cheapskate, skinflint, hoarder, moneygrubber, penny-pincher, pinchpenny

Nearby words

  1. tightknit,
  2. tightly,
  3. tightrope,
  4. tightrope walker,
  5. tights,
  6. tightwire,
  7. tighty-whities,
  8. tiglath-pileser i,
  9. tiglath-pileser iii,
  10. tiglathpileser i

Origin of tightwad

An Americanism dating back to 1895–1900; tight + wad1
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for tightwad

British Dictionary definitions for tightwad

tightwad

/ (ˈtaɪtˌwɒd) /

noun

slang, mainly US and Canadian a stingy person; miser
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for tightwad

tightwad

n.

"parsimonious person," 1900, from tight in the sense of "close-fisted" (1805) + wad (n.). The notions of stringency and avarice also combine in Modern Greek sphiktos "greedy," literally "tight."

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper