cheeseparing

C2+ Topic:Money & Finance
US /ˈtʃiːzˌpɛrɪŋ/ UK /ˈtʃiːzˌpeərɪŋ/
adj noun

Meanings

  1. 1
    adj

    excessively careful with money; stingy or miserly

    His cheeseparing habits meant the heating was never once turned on.

Thesaurus

Synonyms
1 adj · excessively careful with... stingymiserlyparsimoniousniggardlypenny-pinchingtightfistedfrugal
Opposites
Word family
Related forms cheesepareparing

Etymology

A compound of cheese + paring, from the practice of scraping off the rind of cheese to save the smallest scraps, hence figurative for excessive economy. Pare is from Old French parer ('to trim'), from Latin parāre ('to prepare').

View etymology graph ->

Topics

markdown

Send feedback

Optional — only if you'd like a reply.