miser
Americannoun
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a person who lives in wretched circumstances in order to save and hoard money.
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a stingy, avaricious person.
- Synonyms:
- pinchpenny, tightwad, skinflint
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Obsolete. a wretched or unhappy person.
noun
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a person who hoards money or possessions, often living miserably
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selfish person
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of miser
1535–45; < Latin: wretched
Explanation
A miser is someone who hoards his or her own wealth and doesn’t share or spend any of it. If you remember the old saying “You can’t take it with you!” — then you won't end up acting stingy like a miser. The most famous fictional miser is probably Scrooge in Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. The image of his shivering with cold while he counts his coins illustrates the misery often associated with misers. To be a miser, your impulse to hoard means you won’t even indulge yourself by spending money for fear of depleting your stash.
Vocabulary lists containing miser
Scrooge, Grinch, and Churl: Wonderful Words for Unpleasant People
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"Maus II: And Here My Troubles Began" by Art Spiegelman
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A Room of One's Own
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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:
“I’m a miser right now when it comes to what I’m spending at supermarkets,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2025
A new four-episode podcast aims to show how Ebenezer Scrooge became the miserable miser of the Charles Dickens’ classic “A Christmas Carol,” focusing on themes of redemption, mercy, grace and compassion.
From Washington Times ● Nov. 27, 2023
The British author’s novella about a selfish and stingy miser who becomes woke in Victorian England was an instant holiday hit when published in 1843.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 9, 2022
The Tucson Plug-in is slightly less of a fuel miser but still relatively efficient.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 30, 2022
"You'd lock it up in your lock box and save it 'til you were fifty years old. You're the biggest miser on this planet."
From "The Lemonade War" by Jacqueline Davies
Jon Clinch has revived the life behind the famous ghost in a prequel that fleshes out the early relationship between the two old misers in “A Christmas Carol.”
From Washington Post ● Oct. 22, 2019
Fuel misers will choose the 20d, a 4-cylinder turbocharged diesel that the Environmental Protection Agency rates at an average of 36 miles per gallon.
From New York Times ● Apr. 20, 2017
How do we prepare them for a world where people are proud to be stupid misers who adhere to no moral code?
From Salon ● Jan. 28, 2017
"The members of the alliance have become absolute misers in terms of our water use," Fredman said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2015
The worthy physician belonged to an age when the class called misers extensively prevailed; and when those who lent out money upon interest were denominated usurers.
From Knowledge is Power: A View of the Productive Forces of Modern Society and the Results of Labor, Capital and Skill. by Knight, Charles
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.
