Print this Page Close this Window

Parsimonious

(pronounced pahr-suh-moh-nee-us)  adjective

Definition

from the noun parsimony.

Parsimony (pronounced pahr-suh-moh-nee) = 1. the quality of being over-careful with money; excessive frugality or economy, often to the point of being grudgingly mean about spending or giving; stinginess.   2. extreme and unreasonable restraint in spending money or using resources.

Main Example

• Mired in a severe financial crisis, the Greek government is being pressured by other EU nations to take stern measures such as cutting the federal budget and reducing subsidies. But the Greek public has protested fiercely, making it clear that they do not want their leaders to buckle under outside pressure and resort to any parsimonious steps that will only add to the people’s hardships.

Workplace Examples

• At our workshop tomorrow, we will be serving sandwiches instead of a sumptuous lunch as in the past. These latest budget cuts have forced us into being a bit parsimonious.
• I believe we are wasting our advertising dollars, thanks to our half-heartedness, and our parsimonious approach. Just placing an occasional ad--and in second tier publications, at that--is unproductive. We should either go whole hog or not do any advertising at all.

Other Examples

• following a severe slump in sales, a CEO urging employees to exercise parsimony, such as when ordering supplies, entertaining customers, and traveling on company business
• in general, people of certain cultures and ethnicities being more parsimonious than others
• some medical doctors being parsimonious in their care as they try to fit ever more patients into a day’s work
• in contrast to the generosity of Bill and Melinda Gates, who are giving away over 20 billion dollars of their personal wealth to fight disease and malnutrition afflicting Africa and Asia, the parsimony of some of the other multibillionaires whose charitable donations border on the negligible
• in the novel “A Christmas Carol,” the character of Ebenezer Scrooge who, until his transformation, was parsimonious to the point of being obnoxious

© 2010 V.J. Singal
No part of this may be reproduced in any form without written permission of the author.