parsimonious
/pɑɹ.sɪˈmoʊ.ni.əs/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.18 in modern English
16
Scrabble Score
12
Letters
5
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Exhibiting parsimony; sparing in the expenditure of money; frugal, possibly to excess.
adj
Using a minimal number of assumptions, steps, or conjectures.
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "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."
- "The first three college-savings plans stand out for their parsimonious expenses […]"
- "Statistical methods offer the ability to enforce parsimonious selection of the most influential potential predictors of each gene's state."
- "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."
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.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /pɑɹ.sɪˈmoʊ.ni.əs/
- British English: /pɑː.sɪˈməʊ.ni.əs/
Inflected Forms
more parsimonious (comparative)
most parsimonious (superlative)