frugality

noun

fru·​gal·​i·​ty frü-ˈga-lə-tē 

: the quality or state of being frugal : careful management of material resources and especially money : thrift

For these renters, the philosophy is more about having it all … than it is about hardship or frugality.

—Roya Wolverson

The conference table, like all the company's desks, is made of a door bolted to two-by-fours, a deliberate message of frugality to employees of a company that is losing hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

—Saul Hansell

Synonyms

• economy
• husbandry
• parsimony
• penny-pinching
• providence
• scrimping
• skimping
• thrift

Examples of frugality in a Sentence

her lifelong frugality has enabled her to save enough money to go to college next year

Recent Examples on the Web

Plagued by global pandemics and industry-wide strikes, Hollywood has experienced an unprecedented era of frugality in the past few years. —Jack Dunn, Variety, 26 Sep. 2024

Maybe the Irish can teach them some lessons in frugality. —Letters To The Editor, The Mercury News, 16 Aug. 2024

The big picture: In the U.S., overcapacity, not frugality, has driven prices lower for United and Delta. —Hope King, Axios, 22 July 2024

The frugality that worked so well with the LAOOC didn’t translate to baseball. —Les Carpenter, Washington Post, 21 July 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Middle French & Latin; Middle French frugalité, borrowed from Latin frūgālitāt-, frūgālitās "steadiness of life, temperance, self-restraint," from frūgāl-, base of frūgālior and frūgālissimus, comparative and superlative degrees of frūgī "having merit or worth, deserving, sober, thrifty" + -itāt-, -itās -ity — more at frugal

First Known Use

1531, in the meaning defined above