ENGLISH
REFERENCE

stingy

adj.
B2 Upper Intermediate US //ˈstɪndʒi// stingy Informal

adj. unwilling to spend or give money. You use this to describe someone who is not generous, even when they have enough to share.

adj. unwilling to spend, give, or share money or resources. Often carries a negative or critical tone; frequently used predicatively after 'be' or 'get'.


SIMPLE

He is too stingy to buy his friends a drink.

CONTEXTUAL

The company was criticized for being stingy with employee bonuses despite record-breaking annual profits.

COMPLEX

While some viewed his frugality as a virtue, his children often felt he was simply stingy, especially when it came to basic household comforts.

Synonyms
Antonyms
Etymology 1

Uncertain, possibly from stinge, a dialectal variation of sting (verb).

Etymology 2

From sting + -y.

Usage

Commonly followed by the preposition 'with' when specifying the resource being withheld.

Pitfall

He is very stingy of his moneyHe is very stingy with his moneyThe adjective 'stingy' typically collocates with 'with' rather than 'of' when describing what someone refuses to share.

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