parsimony
/ˈpɑɹsəˌmoʊni/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.11 in modern English
16
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
4
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
With a negative connotation: great reluctance to spend money or other resources; miserliness, stinginess; (countable) an instance of this.
Uncountable
noun
With a positive connotation: careful spending of money or other resources; frugality, thrift; (countable) an instance of this.
Archaic; Uncountable
noun
With a positive connotation: careful spending of money or other resources; frugality, thrift; (countable) an instance of this.
Archaic; Uncountable
noun
With a positive connotation: careful spending of money or other resources; frugality, thrift; (countable) an instance of this.
Archaic; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "[T]he fauour of Princes and Magiſtrates noryſheth, augmenteth, and amplyfyeth all artes and ſciences by liberalitie, and extynguyſheth the ſame by miſerable couetouſnes and parcimonie."
- "[…] I will raile on him ſoundly: […] in ſome elaborate polliſhed Poem, which I will leaue to the world when I am dead, to be a liuing Image to all ages, of his beggerly parſimony and ignoble illiberalitie: […]"
- "[T]hey […] ſo contract and narrovv their minds, that they knovv not hovv to diſpoſe them to any real benefit of themſelves or others. And this is one of the moſt pernicious Parſimonies imaginable; […]"
- "[W]ith thy Sickle reap the rankeſt land: / And miniſter the Blade, vvith bounteous hand. / Nor be vvith harmful parſimony vvon / To follovv vvhat our homely Sires have done; / VVho fill'd the Pail vvith Beeſtings of the Covv: / But all her Udder to the Calf allovv."
- "If mere parsimony could have made a man rich, Sir Pitt Crawley might have become very wealthy […]"
- "William and Lavinia were furtively avaricious; they couldn't help being stingy, since parsimony ran in their blood— […]"
Etymology
From Late Middle English parcimonie, parcimony (“economy, frugality, thrift”), borrowed from Latin parcimōnia, parsimōnia (“frugality, thrift, parsimony; moderation, restraint; stinginess”), from pars- (the past participial stem of parcō (“to economize, save up; etc.”)) + -mōnia (suffix forming abstract nouns). The further etymology of parcō is uncertain; it is possibly from Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó (“away; off”) + *h₂erk- (“to hold; to guard, protect; to lock”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈpɑɹsəˌmoʊni/
- British English: /ˈpɑːsɪməni/