adj
Meaning 1
Short; scanty; curtailed.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
scrimp
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.
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/skɹɪmp/
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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rhymes with -ɪmp
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CMU ARPABET: S K R IH1 M P Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
A pinching miser; a niggard.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 3
To make too small or short; to shortchange.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: sometimes, transitive, with-on
Examples
- to scrimp the pattern of a coat
- The company scrimped on the design so badly that it ended up defective.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: scant, contract, shorten, skimp
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 4
To limit or straiten; to put on short allowance.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 5
To be frugal, whether to a reasonable and wise extent or to a miserly and unwise extent.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: skimp, scrape by
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 6
subsist on a meager allowance
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- scratch and scrimp
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: stint, skimp
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: save
History
Etymology
From Scots scrimp (“meager”), from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German schrimpen (“to shrivel up, wrinkle”), from Old Dutch *scrimpan, from Frankish *skrimpan, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *skrimpaną (“to shrink”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut off”), related to Old English sċrimman (“to shrink”) and sċrincan (“to shrivel up”). Doublet of shrink, shrimp, and shrim.
Across languages
Translations
8 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Bulgarian: скъпя се (skǎpja se) — to be frugal
- Chinese Mandarin: 过度缩减 (guòdùsuōjiǎn) — to be frugal
- Czech: šetřit — to be frugal
- Czech: škudlit — to be frugal
- Czech: skrblit — to be frugal
- Māori: matatoua — to be frugal
- Polish: ciułać — to be frugal
- Polish: uciułać — to be frugal