miserly

  • 1Miserly — Mi ser*ly (m[imac] z[ e]r*l[y^]), a. [From {Miser}.] Like a miser; very covetous; avaricious; stingy; sordid; niggardly. [1913 Webster] Syn: Avaricious; niggardly; sordid; parsimonious; avaricious; penurious; covetous; stingy; mean. See… …

    The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 2miserly — index illiberal, parsimonious, penurious Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …

    Law dictionary

  • 3miserly — (adj.) 1590s, from MISER (Cf. miser) + LY (Cf. ly) (1). Related: Miserliness …

    Etymology dictionary

  • 4miserly — penurious, parsimonious, niggardly, tight, tight fisted, *stingy, close, closefisted, cheeseparing, penny pinching Analogous words: avaricious, greedy, *covetous, grasping: *mean, sordid, abject, ignoble Contrasted words: bountiful, bounteous,… …

    New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • 5miserly — [adj] greedy, stingy abject, avaricious, beggarly, cheapskate*, churlish, close, closefisted, covetous, grasping, ignoble, illiberal, mean, parsimonious, penny pinching*, penurious, skinflint*, sordid, tightfisted*, ungenerous; concepts… …

    New thesaurus

  • 6miserly — ► ADJECTIVE 1) having the characteristics of a miser. 2) (of a quantity) pitiably small. DERIVATIVES miserliness noun …

    English terms dictionary

  • 7miserly — [mī′zər lē] adj. like or characteristic of a miser; greedy and stingy SYN. STINGY1 miserliness n …

    English World dictionary

  • 8miserly — [[t]ma͟ɪzə(r)li[/t]] 1) ADJ GRADED (disapproval) If you describe someone as miserly, you disapprove of them because they seem to hate spending money, and to spend as little as possible. He is miserly with both his time and his money. Syn: mean 2) …

    English dictionary

  • 9miserly — mi|ser|ly [ˈmaızəli US zər ] adj 1.) a miserly amount or quantity is one that is much too small = ↑measly, paltry ↑paltry ▪ We were offered a miserly 4% pay rise. 2.) a miserly person is not generous and does not like spending money = ↑mean… …

    Dictionary of contemporary English

  • 10miserly — adjective 1 a miserly amount, salary etc is one that is much too small: a miserly 4% pay rise 2 a miserly person is one who hates spending money miserliness noun (U) misery / mIzri/ noun 1 (C, U) great suffering or discomfort, caused for example… …

    Longman dictionary of contemporary English