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Synonym Chooser

How does the adjective penurious contrast with its synonyms?

Some common synonyms of penurious are close, miserly, niggardly, parsimonious, and stingy. While all these words mean "being unwilling or showing unwillingness to share with others," penurious implies niggardliness that gives an appearance of actual poverty.

the penurious eccentric bequeathed a fortune

Where would close be a reasonable alternative to penurious?

While the synonyms close and penurious are close in meaning, close suggests keeping a tight grip on one's money and possessions.

folks who are very close when charity calls

When might miserly be a better fit than penurious?

While in some cases nearly identical to penurious, miserly suggests a sordid avariciousness and a morbid pleasure in hoarding.

a miserly couple devoid of social conscience

When is it sensible to use niggardly instead of penurious?

Although the words niggardly and penurious have much in common, niggardly implies giving or spending the very smallest amount possible.

the niggardly amount budgeted for the town library

In what contexts can parsimonious take the place of penurious?

The words parsimonious and penurious can be used in similar contexts, but parsimonious suggests a frugality so extreme as to lead to stinginess.

a parsimonious lifestyle notably lacking in luxuries

When can stingy be used instead of penurious?

The meanings of stingy and penurious largely overlap; however, stingy implies a marked lack of generosity.

a stingy child, not given to sharing

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of penurious Both album and turntable were all the rage, and the Technics was the first quality direct-drive turntable that a penurious college student could afford. Robert Ross, Robb Report, 20 Mar. 2024 There are resentful relatives, penurious relatives, conniving relatives, no relatives, and loved ones denied input because they are not related. Dan Barry, New York Times, 7 Mar. 2024 The book looks beyond Appalachia, concluding the regions in question had been exploited by single industries and white elites, paying poor wages with equally penurious working conditions. Ken Silverstein, Forbes, 13 Aug. 2023 When his sports career petered out, Thorpe kept hustling to make an increasingly penurious living. Jim Higgins, Journal Sentinel, 4 Aug. 2022 See All Example Sentences for penurious
Recent Examples of Synonyms for penurious
Adjective
  • Just his demeanor, the way he was still connected with us, not really playing selfish in any way.
    Chris Biderman, Sacramento Bee, 8 Mar. 2025
  • Raq is a master manipulator who claims to value loyalty above all else, especially from her henchmen brothers Marvin (London Brown) and Lou (Malcolm Mays) and her only son, yet constantly destabilizes the three of them with selfish mind games and power plays that genuinely harm them.
    Robyn Bahr, The Hollywood Reporter, 7 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Three generations of the Kim family have created a politically repressed and economically impoverished state that is nonetheless a pivotal actor on the global stage.
    Foreign Affairs, Foreign Affairs, 25 Feb. 2025
  • Now with all these things vanished, along with the bookstores and repertory cinemas, the city seems impoverished and disfigured.
    Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 24 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • There’s potential for clarity in resolving any lingering tension, but also be careful not to speak too rashly.
    Valerie Mesa, People.com, 3 Mar. 2025
  • In comments at the Morgan Stanley media conference, the Fox CEO was again extremely careful to stress that the goal is not to cannibalize linear television and Fox will not advertise it on linear television but is meant purely to capture those who cut the cord or have never subscribed to cable.
    Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 3 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • And another research team, using data from 2015 to 2022, observed in an article available in Energy Research and Social Science that poor income distribution correlates with social unrest when fossil fuel subsidies are removed.
    Aldo Flores-Quiroga, Forbes, 1 Mar. 2025
  • Federal workers got commendations, awards, positive reviews – and then were fired for 'poor performance' Taxes are coming.
    Nicole Fallert, USA TODAY, 28 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • Forget the greedy streamers: leave the job of filmmaking to people who care, to people like Corbet and Eisenberg, Fargeat and Zilbalodis.
    Stephanie Zacharek, TIME, 3 Mar. 2025
  • When Sue becomes greedy with her time, exceeding seven days on the outside, Elisabeth suffers the consequences, and things take a dark and twisted turn.
    Samantha Stutsman, People.com, 3 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Hunter Biden plays the broke card in latest move to fight laptop scandal lawsuit.
    Fox News, Fox News, 6 Mar. 2025
  • But the Democrats still do not get it, which is why Trump should come to their aid by diverting leftover USAID funds to the Democrat Party which is broke and on the verge of becoming as relevant in U.S. politics as Guatemala, Serbia and Egypt.
    Peter Lucas, Boston Herald, 8 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • But neither can anyone seriously accuse the United States of being ungenerous with its citizens’ lives and treasure or of having no ideals.
    Joshua Landis, Foreign Affairs, 19 Jan. 2016
  • This is the problem with the show: These women are just concocting reasons why the people on the other side suck, and it’s become the most uncharitable, the most ungenerous thing on Bravo.
    Brian Moylan, Vulture, 15 July 2024
Adjective
  • Even the Kremlin’s own human rights council had denounced the charges as unwarranted, adding its voice to a chorus of support for Prokopyeva in what became a battle of wills between an impecunious local reporter and Russia’s powerful security apparatus.
    Andrew Higgins, BostonGlobe.com, 6 July 2020
  • His half-Danish father, Prince Andrew, second in line to the Greek throne, was sentenced to death after the army was defeated in Smyrna by the Turks, saved only by the intervention of George V. In 1930, after eight years of impecunious exile in Paris, the family dispersed.
    Moira Hodgson, WSJ, 4 Dec. 2020

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Cite this Entry

“Penurious.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/penurious. Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.

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