Dictionary

parsimonious en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /pɑː.sɪˈməʊ.ni.əs/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (Southern-England) audio
• /pɑɹ.sɪˈmoʊ.ni.əs/ (General-American)

Etymology

Etymology tree Middle English parcimonie English parsimony Proto-Indo-European *h₃ed- Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *h₃édosder.? Proto-Italic *-ŏ̄dsos? Old Latin -ōssus Latin -ōsus Old French -usbor. Middle English -ous English -ous English parsimonious From parsimony + -ous.

Meanings

1. Exhibiting parsimony; sparing in the expenditure of money; frugal, possibly to excess.
   • Our fathers would have an economical government, even if grand people called it a parsimonious one, and taxes should be no greater than were absolutely necessary to pay for such a government. 1898, William Graham Sumner, “The Conquest of the United States by Spain”, in War and Other Essays, New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, published 1911, →OCLC, page 333:
   • He was regular in his habits, parsimonious, and industrious; but he lacked all talent needed at the bar—he had neither address, nor eloquence, nor ingenuity. 1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter VI, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 68:
   • The first three college-savings plans stand out for their parsimonious expenses […] 2002 January, “55 great personal-finance ideas”, in Kiplinger's Personal Finance, volume 56, number 1, Washington, D.C.: Kiplinger Washington Editors, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 53, col. 3:
2. Using a minimal number of assumptions, steps, or conjectures.
   • Statistical methods offer the ability to enforce parsimonious selection of the most influential potential predictors of each gene's state. 2006, Richard Bonneau et al., “The Inferelator: An Algorithm for Learning Parsimonious Regulatory Networks from Systems-biology Data Sets de Novo”, in Genome Biology, volume 7, number 5, London: BioMed Central, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, →PMID, →PMCID, page R36:
3. Not conceding many goals.
   • They played like a team that was in a hurry to get back to the Premier League. Norwich City had dismantled the most parsimonious defence in the Championship inside the opening quarter of an hour and at the final whistle it was the yellow end, rather than Middlesbrough’s banks of red, where the euphoria could be found. 2015 May 25, Daniel Taylor, “Norwich reach Premier League after early blitz sees off Middlesbrough”, in The Guardian, London, archived from the original on 26 May 2015:

Forms

Deriveds

unparsimoniously · parsimoniousness · imparsimonious · equiparsimonious · nonparsimonious · parsimoniously · unparsimonious

Synonyms

abstemious · nipcheese · provident · spareful · frugal · close-fisted · moderate · penny-wise · stingy · sparing · penurious · parsimonious · ungiving · spary · miserable · miserly · tightwad · penurious · close as wax · mean · tight-fisted · illiberal · prudent · economic · as tight as Dick's hatband · penny-pinching · niggardly · huswifely · stingy · narrow-fisted · tight as a tick · peddling · parsimonious · ungenerous · pennywise · thrifty · chary · shabby · tight-fisted · husbandly · tighter than Dick's hatband · tight · still got one's communion money · penny-pinching · cheap · scrubby · cheap · scrooge-like · niggardly · close with a buck · chintzy · economical · cheeseparing · close · tight · swear · canny

Translations (55)

mi kukumomo (exhibiting parsimony) · grc φειδωλός (exhibiting parsimony) · nl gierig (exhibiting parsimony) · no økonomisk (exhibiting parsimony) · mi tūmatarau (exhibiting parsimony) · pl chciwy (exhibiting parsimony) · it parsimonioso (exhibiting parsimony) · pl solidny ((sport) not conceding many goals) · de sparsam (exhibiting parsimony) · ru жа́дный (exhibiting parsimony) · pl skąpy (exhibiting parsimony) · pl szczelny ((sport) not conceding many goals) · de karg (exhibiting parsimony) · de sparsam (using a minimal number of assumptions, steps, or conjectures) · pl oszczędny ((sport) not conceding many goals) · es parsimonioso (exhibiting parsimony) · fr pincé (exhibiting parsimony) · pl oszczędny (exhibiting parsimony) · fi kitsas (exhibiting parsimony) · de knauserig (exhibiting parsimony) · cs skoupý (exhibiting parsimony) · mi moānanga (exhibiting parsimony) · el οικονόμος (exhibiting parsimony) · et kokkuhoidlik (exhibiting parsimony) · cmn 小氣 /小气 (exhibiting parsimony) · et majanduslik (exhibiting parsimony) · no gnien (exhibiting parsimony) · cs škudlivý (exhibiting parsimony) · et säästlik (exhibiting parsimony) · cs lakomý (exhibiting parsimony) · ru скупо́й (exhibiting parsimony) · pt parcimonioso (exhibiting parsimony) · ru ска́редный (exhibiting parsimony) · ga sprionlaithe (exhibiting parsimony) · ru бережли́вый (exhibiting parsimony) · et säästlik (using a minimal number of assumptions, steps, or conjectures) · fi pihi (exhibiting parsimony) · vi bủn xỉn (exhibiting parsimony) · nl zuinig (exhibiting parsimony) · pt parco (exhibiting parsimony) · fr avare (exhibiting parsimony) · cs spořivý (exhibiting parsimony) · de ökonomisch (using a minimal number of assumptions, steps, or conjectures) · el φειδωλός (exhibiting parsimony) · ru эконо́мный (exhibiting parsimony) · fr parcimonieux (exhibiting parsimony) · cs skrblivý (exhibiting parsimony) · fa خسیس (exhibiting parsimony) · no beskjeden (exhibiting parsimony) · pl ekonomiczny (using a minimal number of assumptions, steps, or conjectures) · de kniepig (exhibiting parsimony) · es parsimonioso (using a minimal number of assumptions, steps, or conjectures) · de geizig (exhibiting parsimony) · no sparsom (exhibiting parsimony) · ca parsimoniós (exhibiting parsimony)