penny pincher
1
5.8
- noun
- /ˈpɛni ˈpɪnʧər/
- Informal
:
tacaño
- Many penny pinchers enjoy using coupons to save money at the store.
Surely they aren't penny pinchers too, right?
- Surely they aren't penny pinchers too, right?
- I understand that my mom was the ultimate fucking penny pincher.
- They will reproach prolificate and lavish spenders with meanness and sordidness, being penny pinchers.
Examples
-
Being a penny pincher, she often refuses to buy coffee when she can make it at home.
-
That old penny-pincher can afford the best detective in the business, he's just trying to get one for nothing.
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Watson, this is no time to be a penny-pincher.
-
I became a "passionate" penny pincher about eight years ago when I started using ...
Blog text (12) -
How can we convince these 'penny pinchers' to spend more, faster?
Blog text (15) -
Surely they aren't penny pinchers too, right?
-
I've never been one to take long showers, being the extreme penny pincher I am.
Blog text (14) -
It was by far one of his favorite gifts ever, because as a penny pincher, we don't buy a lot of steak around here.
Blog text (12) -
What he doesn't do is allow you to cop out of managing your money by making excuses like "I don't make enough money to save any of it" or "I don't want to be a penny pincher."
Blog text (9) -
When she began talking about Marv—how he was a penny-pincher, for example, and not much of a poon hound; how he ironed his hankies.
Fiction book (1998)
Synonyms
23
1.4
A person who keeps money for the future instead of spending it
13
7.0
A person who does not like to spend money
5
8.7
A person who does not like to spend money
3
9.9
A person who does not want to spend money or take risks
2
8.5
A person who refuses to spend money or share with others
1
9.3
A person who does not like to spend money
1
9.1
A person who does not like to spend money
A person who does not like to spend money
A person who does not like to spend money
A person who carefully saves money and avoids waste
Antonyms
How Stingy
7
6.5
- Offensive
1
9.1
- Informal
1
5.8
- Offensive
13
7.0
- Offensive
5
8.7
Surface Forms
Morphology
penny + pincher
The meaning 'a person stingy with money' is directly derivable from 'penny' (a small unit of money) combined with an agentive form 'pincher'—i.e. someone who 'pinches' pennies. This compound follows a transparent agentive pattern (money unit + doer) that B1 learners who know the constituents can readily interpret.
Etymology
Penny pincher comes from the image of someone literally pinching a small penny to keep it from being spent. To pinch is to hold tightly, so the phrase now describes 'a person who is very careful or stingy with money'.