tightwad

[tahyt-wod]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR tightwad ON THESAURUS.COM

noun Informal.

a close-fisted or stingy person.

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

Related Words for tightwad

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

Examples from the Web for tightwad

Historical Examples of tightwad

You never gave two dollars to anyone in your life, you tightwad!
Center Rush Rowland
Ralph Henry Barbour
I asked him for a drink, and he couldnt see it, the tightwad!
Cursed
George Allan England
Nor have you ever found a real Muscular who was a "tightwad."
How to Analyze People on Sight
Elsie Lincoln Benedict and Ralph Paine Benedict
Think I'm so unreliable and tightwad that you've got to tie me down with a contract?
Main Street
Sinclair Lewis
You dont have to give anything, but they expect it, you know, and they think youre a tightwad if you dont come across.
Center Rush Rowland
Ralph Henry Barbour

British Dictionary definitions for tightwad

tightwad

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

"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."