Standard Lemma guide

penurious

adj · 5 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /pəˈnjʊə.ɹi.əs/ without the pour–poor merger
  • /pəˈnjɔː.ɹi.əs/ pour–poor merger
  • General-American: /pəˈnjʊɹ.i.əs/
  • General-American: /pəˈnjɝ.i.əs/ cure–fir merger
  • General-American: /pəˈnjɔɹ.i.əs/ pour–poor merger
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: P EH2 N Y UW1 R IY0 AH0 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Miserly; excessively cheap.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • The old man died a penurious wretch; eighty-thousand dollars in the mattress and as many holes in the roof.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: as tight as Dick's hatband, cheap, cheeseparing, chintzy, close, close as wax, close-fisted, illiberal, mean, miserable, miserly, narrow-fisted, niggardly, nipcheese, parsimonious, peddling, penny-wise, penny-pinching, penurious, scrooge-like, scrubby, shabby, still got one's communion money, stingy, swear, tight, tight-fisted, tight as a tick, tighter than Dick's hatband, ungenerous, ungiving

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Not bountiful; thin; scant.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • The penurious stew would have been more accurately labelled broth.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adj

Meaning 3

Impoverished; wanting for money.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • The poor penurious horde, naught in the cooking pot and naught in the belly.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: almsless, arm, badly off, bankrupt, beggared, beggarly, boracic, broke, broken, broker than the Ten Commandments, depauperate, destitute, dirt poor, disadvantaged, down and out, down at heel, down on one's luck, down on one's uppers, empty-handed, farthingless, feeling the pinch, flat, goodless, groatless, hard up, impecunious, impoverished, in need, indigent, insolvent, lower-class, moneyless, necessitous, needy, oofless, pauperized, penniless, penurious, pinched, pok kai, poor, poor as a church mouse, poor as a rat, poor as Job, possessionless, poverty-ridden, poverty-stricken, shillingless, skint, stone-broke, stony-broke, strapped, stuck, threadbare, unwealthy, wealthless

Antonyms: bow-legged wi' brass, comfortably off, filthy rich, loaded, minted, moneyed, moneybags, of means, oofy, rich, rich as Croesus, rolling, rolling in dough, rolling in it, upper crust, wealthy, well-endowed, well-heeled, well off, well-to-do

4

adjective satellite

Meaning 4

excessively unwilling to spend

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • parsimonious thrift relieved by few generous impulses
  • lived in a most penurious manner--denying himself every indulgence

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: parsimonious

Antonyms: none provided

5

adjective satellite

Meaning 5

not having enough money to pay for necessities

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: hard up, impecunious, in straitened circumstances(p), penniless, pinched

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Medieval Latin pēnūriōsus. See penury from Latin penuria (“want”), related to paene (“scarcely”), c. 1400. Compare French pénurie.

Across languages

Translations

7 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: беден (beden) — miserly
  • Bulgarian: оскъден (oskǎden) — miserly
  • Māori: hākere — miserly
  • Māori: matamau — miserly
  • Māori: tūmatarau — miserly
  • Russian: скупо́й (skupój) — miserly
  • Russian: ска́редный (skárednyj) — miserly