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chintzy

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chintzy¹

  • /ˈt͡ʃɪntsi/ US, UK

Rhymes with -ɪntsi

Where it comes from

From chintz + -y, from Hindi छींट (chī̃ṭ).

adjective chintzier · chintziest

  1. Of or decorated with chintz. This time she showed him into her living room instead of the kitchen. It was a little chintzier than it would have been if she'd actually owned the place, but he seemed to like it and sank comfortably into a loose-covered, old-fashioned, square-cornered sofa.
  2. figuratively Tastelessly showy; cheap, gaudy, or tacky. "Tea!" she said in a tiny voice. / "Wake up! It's nearly five." / Oh! Chintzy, chintzy cheeriness, / Half dead and half alive.

    Similar: garish, kitschy, shoddy, trashy, bedizened, blatant, blingish, brash, campy, catchpenny, chichi, chintzy

chintzy²

  • /ˈt͡ʃɪntsi/ US, UK

Rhymes with -ɪntsi

Where it comes from

From earlier chinchy, from Middle English chynchy (“miserly, stingy”), from Middle English chinche (“stingy, miserly; miser”) + -y.

adjective chintzier · more chintzy · chintziest · most chintzy

  1. figuratively Excessively reluctant to spend; miserly, stingy. Is there a place for being prudent, frugal, and thrifty with the one we love in marriage? Sure. But only when careful ways are outweighed by generosity to overflowing. […] Think of a time when you were being a bit more chintzy with your partner than you needed to be. What was the result and was it w

    Similar: as tight as Dick's hatband, cheap, cheeseparing, chintzy, close, close as wax, close-fisted, illiberal, mean, miserable, miserly, narrow-fisted

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adj tacky

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MLA

"chintzy." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/chintzy. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

chintzy. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/chintzy

Chicago

"chintzy." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/chintzy.

BibTeX
@misc{chintzy_2026,
  title = {chintzy},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/chintzy},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}