penurious

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penurious

/pəˈnjʊə.ɹi.əs/ UK
/pəˈnjɔː.ɹi.əs/ UK
/pəˈnjʊɹ.i.əs/ US
/pəˈnjɝ.i.əs/ US
/pəˈnjɔɹ.i.əs/ US

Where it comes from

From Medieval Latin pēnūriōsus. See penury from Latin penuria (“want”), related to paene (“scarcely”), c. 1400. Compare French pénurie.

adjective more penurious · most penurious

Miserly; excessively cheap. The old man died a penurious wretch; eighty-thousand dollars in the mattress and as many holes in the roof.
Similar: as tight as Dick's hatband, cheap, cheeseparing, chintzy, close, close as wax, close-fisted, illiberal, mean, miserable, miserly, narrow-fisted
Not bountiful; thin; scant. The penurious stew would have been more accurately labelled broth.
Impoverished; wanting for money. The poor penurious horde, naught in the cooking pot and naught in the belly.
Similar: almsless, arm, badly off, bankrupt, beggared, beggarly, boracic, broke, broken, broker than the Ten Commandments, depauperate, destitute · Opposite: bow-legged wi' brass, comfortably off, filthy rich, loaded, fat, minted, moneyed, moneybags, of means, oofy, rich, rich as Croesus

Translations

Every language

adj miserly

Русский	скупо́й skupój, ска́редный skárednyj

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MLA

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

APA

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

Chicago

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

BibTeX

@misc{penurious_2026,
  title = {penurious},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/penurious},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}