penny-pinching 1 of 2

adjective

Definition of penny-pinchingnext
as in careful
giving or sharing as little as possible the new CEO's penny-pinching ways have helped to keep the company out of bankruptcy

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

penny-pinching

2 of 2

noun

ˈpe-nē-ˌpin-chiŋ How to pronounce penny-pinching (audio)
1
as in saving
careful management of material resources they'll have to practice some penny-pinching if they want to save for a house

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in economy
the quality or practice of being overly sparing with money reusing your tea bags is perhaps taking penny-pinching too far

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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 penny-pinching
Noun
The penny-pinching paid off in 2023, when Berry bought her two-bedroom, one-bath home in Charleston, Tennessee, a small town about 45 miles outside of Chattanooga. — Alex Veiga, Fortune, 20 May 2026 But for now, penny-pinching can be accomplished with relatively inconsequential basketball moves. — Bennett Durando, Denver Post, 1 Feb. 2026 Some of these treats date as far back as the 1700s, while others were developed during the penny-pinching of the Great Depression or the liveliness of the 1950s. — Mack Swenson, Southern Living, 4 Dec. 2025 Everton have spent around £90million ($122m) so far this summer, a considerable departure from the days of penny-pinching towards the end of former owner Farhad Moshiri’s tenure. — Patrick Boyland, New York Times, 15 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for penny-pinching
  1. careful
  2. saving
  3. economy
  4. selfish
  5. frugality
  6. economizing
  7. miserly
  8. thrift
Adjective
  • Full-scale, 10-foot Hulk standins helped actors and camera crews judge his dimensions on set, and even his pants required careful attention.
    — Davide Abbatescianni, Variety, 15 Oct. 2026
  • Turning a field into a recognizable maze requires specialized planning and careful execution.
    — Alexa Liacko, CBS News, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of careful
Noun
  • Only a few decades later, environmentalists recast wilderness as something that needed saving.
    — M. R. O’Connor, New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2026
  • What made the building worth saving was also what made the project so challenging.
    — Mickey Rapkin, HollywoodReporter, 10 Oct. 2026
Definition of saving
Noun
  • Middle-skilled workers whose jobs are highly exposed to automation risk being left behind, with advanced economies facing a particularly significant impact.
    — Preston Fore, Fortune, 13 Oct. 2026
  • That seemingly minor detail can have huge consequences for the entire economy.
    — Greg Rosalsky, NPR, 13 Oct. 2026
Definition of economy
Adjective
  • Also on Weekend Update, James Austin Johnson portrayed a selfish Kevin O’Leary, the Shark Tank investor who is backing a massive data center campus in northwest Utah.
    — William Vaillancourt, Rolling Stone, 11 Oct. 2026
  • That’s also how Violet is thinking about their portrayal of Maureen, whose eccentric performance art and selfish behavior often give the character a bad rap.
    — Ellise Shafer, Variety, 8 Oct. 2026
Definition of selfish
Noun
  • Consider the late Queen Elizabeth II wearing chartreuse to stand out in a crowd, or Princess Anne signaling a paradoxical lesson in royal frugality by rewearing a 42-year-old dress.
    — Eva Wolchover, Vanity Fair, 13 Oct. 2026
  • Tom’s frugality also lured Nancy into the business on the pretense of spending more time together.
    — Tim Graham, New York Times, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of frugality
Noun
  • Inflation continues to pressure consumers The holiday economizing comes as Americans continue to battle inflation, which rose after the COVID-19 pandemic to levels not seen since the 1980s.
    — Alexander Coolidge, Cincinnati Enquirer, 11 Nov. 2025
Definition of economizing
Adjective
  • The plot involves two sons of rich, miserly fathers in love with girls their fathers will never approve of and what happens when the fathers’ devious servants decide to give the boys a hand.
    — Lonnie Burstein Hewitt, San Diego Union-Tribune, 29 July 2026
  • The already rich reap the most, though the thin spreading of payments means the payouts are relatively miserly for the game’s elite.
    — Chris Weatherspoon, New York Times, 21 July 2026
Definition of miserly
Noun
  • Where possible, Fabscrap earmarks materials for reuse, selling them on via its online shop and in-person thrift store.
    — Bella Webb, Vogue, 8 Oct. 2026
  • For those two days, standard in-store thrift items are just $1 each.
    — Laura Daily, Denver Post, 30 Sep. 2026
Definition of thrift

Browse Nearby Words

penny-pinchers
penny-pinching
penny-wise
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Cite this Entry

“Penny-pinching.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/penny-pinching. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

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