purse strings

plural noun

: financial resources
also : control over these resources

Examples of purse strings in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web In This Article Tips for Choosing Why Trust Southern Living A good mattress can pull pretty hard on the purse strings. Sharon Brandwein, Southern Living, 18 Apr. 2024 Consumer spending has stayed robust at large, but retailers have warned in recent months that lower-income consumers are tightening their purse strings. Krystal Hur, CNN, 11 Apr. 2024 Second, commercial banks tightened their purse strings after federal regulators hounded industry players due to the closure of Silicon Valley Bank last year. Rebecca San Juan, Miami Herald, 6 Mar. 2024 Guidance from corporate earnings reported this week suggest that the companies that have their fingers on the pulse of the economy expect consumers to tighten their purse strings this year. Krystal Hur, CNN, 1 Mar. 2024 Chinese consumers — once major buyers of global luxury goods — are tightening their purse strings as a real estate crisis and job insecurity hurt confidence. Ishika Mookerjee, Fortune Asia, 28 Feb. 2024 The governor had publicly alerted state and local policymakers that Maryland’s purse strings would be much tighter for fiscal year 2025. Hannah Gaskill, Baltimore Sun, 7 Feb. 2024 Canal+ has pledged to maintain separate purse strings for OCS/Cine+ to continue acquiring movies for first-window rights, as well as having a separate acquisition team. Elsa Keslassy, Variety, 12 Jan. 2024 Just keep in mind that dry cleaning costs will add up over time, whereas machine washing is easier on the purse strings. Sharon Brandwein, Southern Living, 7 Jan. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'purse strings.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1530, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of purse strings was circa 1530

Dictionary Entries Near purse strings

Cite this Entry

“Purse strings.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/purse%20strings. Accessed 26 Apr. 2024.

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