as in selfish
giving or sharing as little as possible
my brother, who is notoriously miserly, surprised us when he offered to pick up the tab
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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.
Recent Examples of miserly
Newcastle's player sale profits were miserly for years until June 2024
Profit on player sales from 2014 to 2024 (£millions)
Column chart of Newcastle United profit on player sales, where club record £69.8m in 2023-24 far outweigh what came before.
—
Chris Weatherspoon, New York Times, 23 Apr. 2025
Here's the unvarnished truth: Medicaid's miserly reimbursement rates have driven countless doctors to stop accepting patients in the program.
—Steve Forbes, Forbes.com, 17 Apr. 2025
Chrissy made a predictably miserly offer of $230,000, and obviously David did not take it.
—Laura Bradley, Vulture, 25 Mar. 2025
Up to then, Wrexham had by far the most miserly defence in League One after conceding just 11 goals in 19 league games — five better than Birmingham City and Huddersfield Town.
—Richard Sutcliffe, The Athletic, 23 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for miserly
Chris Weatherspoon, New York Times, 23 Apr. 2025
Here's the unvarnished truth: Medicaid's miserly reimbursement rates have driven countless doctors to stop accepting patients in the program.
—Steve Forbes, Forbes.com, 17 Apr. 2025
Chrissy made a predictably miserly offer of $230,000, and obviously David did not take it.
—Laura Bradley, Vulture, 25 Mar. 2025
Up to then, Wrexham had by far the most miserly defence in League One after conceding just 11 goals in 19 league games — five better than Birmingham City and Huddersfield Town.
—Richard Sutcliffe, The Athletic, 23 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for miserly
Recent Examples of Synonyms for miserly
Adjective
-
The United States seems to be the only major nation that’s in the grip of such mercenary and selfish dogma.—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board,
Sun Sentinel,
5 Aug. 2025
-
Each declaration chips away at the outdated beliefs that wealth is unladylike or selfish.—
Melissa Houston,
Forbes.com,
1 Aug. 2025
Adjective
-
Bright Outlook Defies Expert Predictions In their respective interviews, both Woods and Wirth were careful to point out that their partnering with each other in Guyana is nothing unique or even unusual.—
David Blackmon,
Forbes.com,
5 Aug. 2025
-
Be careful to navigate around these components and move slowly when cutting anything with a mix of hard and soft textures, Rade Vukmir, MD, professor of clinical emergency medicine at Drexel University College of Medicine, tells SELF.—
Erica Sloan,
SELF,
5 Aug. 2025
Adjective
-
So, what would really help the Mets’ pen would be a late-game arm who is stingy with free passes.—
Tim Britton,
New York Times,
28 July 2025
-
Apple has always been a bit stingy with RAM in iDevices, even more so a few years ago, and especially in lower-end devices (Apple Intelligence and its apparent 8GB RAM requirement have been a bit of an equalizer here).—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
24 July 2025
Adjective
-
Though one is a human innovation and the other hails from a distant world, neither would’ve posed a danger had greedy tech barons not released them from the Pandora’s box of scientific progress.—
Judy Berman,
Time,
5 Aug. 2025
-
O’ahu, Maui, Kaua’i and the big island of Hawai’i were all joined by water but divided by greedy men, cunning chiefs and a cycle of endless combat.—
Aramide Tinubu,
Variety,
1 Aug. 2025
Adjective
-
The parsimonious publics of the United States and other democracies, on the other hand, would prevent their governments from expending the necessary resources to resist Beijing’s efforts to undermine a boycott.—
Dawn Brancati,
Foreign Affairs,
25 Mar. 2021
-
Wimpy was a mild-mannered, soft-spoken, lazy, parsimonious, and utterly gluttonous hamburger-wolfing straight man to Popeye.—
Richard Lederer,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
19 July 2025
Adjective
-
Every year, a complacent, tightfisted city council turned down the recommendations.—
Margaret Talbot,
The New Yorker,
2 Oct. 2023
-
Kotick played the tightfisted owner of the Oakland A’s.—
Cynthia Littleton,
Variety,
31 May 2023
Adjective
-
At least with Derrick, the shallowness seems intentional, if ungenerous.—
Angie Han,
HollywoodReporter,
13 June 2025
-
But, even though there was nothing the slightest bit ungracious or ungenerous about her performance, it was felt more like the audience being asked to come to her.—
Chris Willman,
Variety,
26 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
When culture starts performing alignment instead of living it, most companies reach for fixes: tighter messaging, new values, more playbooks.—
Vibhas Ratanjee,
Forbes.com,
15 Aug. 2025
-
That’s because of the NFL’s ownership rules, which are tighter than those in other sports.—
Eben Novy-Williams,
Sportico.com,
14 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Miserly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/miserly. Accessed 20 Aug. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share