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penurious

adjective

Synonyms and Antonyms of penurious

1 giving or sharing as little as possible
  • the company's penurious management could not be convinced of the need to earmark more money for research and development
Synonyms of penurious

cheap, chintzy, close, closefisted, mean, mingy, miserly, niggard, niggardly, parsimonious, penny-pinching, pinching, pinchpenny, spare, sparing, stingy, stinting, tight, tightfisted, uncharitable, ungenerous
Words Related to penurious

careful, chary, conserving, economical, economizing, frugal, saving, scrimping, skimping, thrifty

acquisitive, avaricious, avid, coveting, covetous, desirous, grasping, greedy, hoggish, itchy, mercenary, rapacious, selfish, shabby, small, sordid

begrudging, envious, grudging, resentful

inhospitable
Near Antonyms of penurious

altruistic, selfless, unselfish

extravagant, free, handsome, lavish, overgenerous, profuse

beneficent, benevolent, hospitable, humanitarian, philanthropic (also philanthropical)

compassionate, good-hearted, greathearted, kindly, magnanimous, openhearted

thriftless, unthrifty

dissipating, frittering, prodigal, profligate, spendthrift, splurging, squandering, wasteful, wasting
Antonyms of penurious

bounteous, bountiful, charitable, freehanded, generous, liberal, munificent, openhanded, unsparing, unstinting
2 lacking money or material possessions
  • the most penurious members of the community are forced to depend on the services of the food bank
Synonyms of penurious

beggared, beggarly, broke, destitute, dirt-poor, down-and-out, famished, hard up, impecunious, impoverished, indigent, necessitous, needful, needy, pauperized, penniless, poor, poverty-stricken, skint [chiefly British], threadbare
Words Related to penurious

deprived, disadvantaged, dispossessed, unaffluent, underprivileged

bankrupt, bankrupted, bust (or busted), insolvent

possessionless, ruined

depressed, distressed, hand-to-mouth, hardscrabble, pinched, poorish, reduced, straitened

cash-strapped, low, short, tapped out
Phrases Synonymous with penurious

down on one's luck, out at elbows (or out at the elbows), out of pocket
Near Antonyms of penurious

comfortable, prosperous
Antonyms of penurious

affluent, deep-pocketed, fat, fat-cat, flush, moneyed (also monied), opulent, rich, silk-stocking, wealthy, well-heeled, well-off, well-to-do

Synonym Discussion of penurious

stingy, close, niggardly, parsimonious, penurious, miserly mean being unwilling or showing unwillingness to share with others. stingy implies a marked lack of generosity.
    • a stingy child, not given to sharing
close suggests keeping a tight grip on one's money and possessions.
    • folks who are very close when charity calls
niggardly implies giving or spending the very smallest amount possible.
    • the niggardly amount budgeted for the town library
parsimonious suggests a frugality so extreme as to lead to stinginess.
    • a parsimonious lifestyle notably lacking in luxuries
penurious implies niggardliness that gives an appearance of actual poverty.
    • the penurious eccentric bequeathed a fortune
miserly suggests a sordid avariciousness and a morbid pleasure in hoarding.
    • a miserly couple devoid of social conscience

Learn More about penurious

  1. See words that rhyme with penurious Dictionary: Definition of penurious

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