closefisted

adjective

ˈklōs-ˌfi-stəd How to pronounce closefisted (audio)
Definition of closefistednext
as in careful
giving or sharing as little as possible closefisted administrators objecting to legitimate office expenses

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for closefisted
  1. careful
  2. close
  3. tight
  4. selfish
  5. cheap
  6. greedy
  7. mean
  8. spare
Adjective
  • Nick wants to be careful about their firm’s spending, but Serena reminds him that Cathcarts has every resource at its disposal.
    — Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 2 Oct. 2026
  • The Iranian regime will need to be careful before launching such an attack, or even before undertaking lesser forms of escalation.
    — Mohammad Ayatollahi Tabaar, Foreign Affairs, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of careful
Adjective
  • The first five conditions describe any lasting affectionate bond, such as a close friendship.
    — Pascal Vrticka, Scientific American, 4 Oct. 2026
  • While formally a candidate for European Union membership, Serbia’s accession process has stalled under Vucic, who maintains close ties with Russia and China.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 3 Oct. 2026
Definition of close
Adjective
  • Every dollar poured in weaves the technology’s success and the US economy tighter and tighter together.
    — Yerbol Orynbayev, Fortune, 3 Oct. 2026
  • Similar tensions are emerging in South Korea, with growing opposition to data centers near residential areas and proposals for tighter local restrictions, even as the national government pushes to accelerate development.
    — April Roach,Jenny Lee, CNBC, 3 Oct. 2026
Definition of tight
Adjective
  • Furthermore, the equalities that do exist often emerge from selfish motives.
    — Christopher von Rueden, The Conversation, 3 Oct. 2026
  • The Trask boys are meant to represent a spectrum of good to bad, but as they’re encouraged to make individual choices, that also opens up the possibility of evil choices, selfish choices, destructive choices.
    — Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of selfish
Adjective
  • The question should be how technology can make returning it cheap enough that the government no longer has an excuse.
    — Mark Lewyn, Hartford Courant, 2 Oct. 2026
  • The company on Tuesday introduced an upgrade to its cheaper, mid-tier GPT-6 Sol model.
    — Nicholas Wu, semafor.com, 2 Oct. 2026
Definition of cheap
Adjective
  • Her former research partner has absconded with her life’s work, presumably to put toward greedy human means of Manifest Destiny.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 1 Oct. 2026
  • Digger follows greedy, careless Digger as his company inadvertently catalyzes a disaster with global repercussions—then, whoopsie, sets off another for good measure.
    — Hillary Busis, Vanity Fair, 29 Sep. 2026
Definition of greedy
Adjective
  • The mean score for the Peach State’s public school students was higher than the national average for the ninth year in a row, Georgia Department of Education officials said in a news release Tuesday.
    — Eric Stirgus, AJC.com, 30 Sep. 2026
  • Related Stories Cruise, declaiming every line, acting with blind bluster and a mean gleam of good-ol’-boy joy, makes Digger a walking cartoon — a larger-than-life satire of over-the-top American arrogance, like LBJ crossed with Foghorn Leghorn.
    — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 29 Sep. 2026
Definition of mean
Adjective
  • Rather than re-create New York, Hurwitz placed the dancers in a spare white studio, where light and shadow become something like scenery and his camera can move from overhead to eye level and back again.
    — Lilah Ramzi, Vogue, 2 Oct. 2026
  • With Israeli bans on importing fuel, engine oil, and spare parts, breakdowns often become indefinite.
    — Ghada Abdulfattah, Christian Science Monitor, 2 Oct. 2026
Definition of spare
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

closed shops
closefisted
close-grained
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Closefisted.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/closefisted. Accessed 5 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
name tags
Words Named After People Quiz Find out who’s behind "leotard," "morphine," an...
See All