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HOW TO PRONOUNCE

parsimony

/ˈpɑɹsəˌmoʊni/

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American Pronunciation Guide · 1:05
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What does parsimony mean?

noun

  1. With a negative connotation: great reluctance to spend money or other resources; miserliness, stinginess; (countable) an instance of this.
More meanings (3)

noun

  1. (archaic) With a positive connotation: careful spending of money or other resources; frugality, thrift; (countable) an instance of this.
  2. (archaic) The quality of not generously giving, showing, or using something intangible, such as emotion, praise, or words.
  3. (archaic) Chiefly in law of parsimony, principle of parsimony, etc.: the quality or characteristic of using the fewest facts or resources to explain a situation or to solve a problem.

Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0

IPA pronunciation

/ˈpɑɹsəˌmoʊni/

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0

Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.

In the pages of books

See this word in context.

The security of all would thus be subjected to the parsimony, improvidence, or inability of a part.
Alexander Hamilton; John Jay; James MadisonThe Federalist PapersProject Gutenberg ebook #18
“Thirty-five dollars just thrown out of the window,” cried Trina, her teeth clicking, every instinct of her parsimony aroused.
Frank NorrisMcTeague: A Story of San FranciscoProject Gutenberg ebook #165
More book examples (3)
How, then, did the word Thrift get to mean parsimony, frugality, the opposite of waste?
Charles KingsleySanitary and Social Lectures and EssaysProject Gutenberg ebook #1637
The high rate of profit seems everywhere to destroy that parsimony which, in other circumstances, is natural to the character of the merchant.
Adam SmithAn Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of NationsProject Gutenberg ebook #3300
Nature made no allowance for their constant warfare with the elements, and the parsimony with which she had meted out to them the enjoyments of life.
J. F. C. (Justus Friedrich Carl) HeckerThe Black Death, and The Dancing ManiaTranslated by B. G. (Benjamin Guy) BabingtonProject Gutenberg ebook #1739