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

The evidence of recent history suggests there’s wisdom in the frugality. —Interesting Engineering, 24 June 2024

But this year, in Jerusalem’s Old City and across the Muslim world, evening feasts to observe the end to a day of fasting have been shaped by sadness and frugality. —Tribune News Service, Hartford Courant, 10 Apr. 2024

Bhumibol promoted frugality, personal reserve, and traditional monogamy. —Tamara Loos, Foreign Affairs, 7 Dec. 2020

The dish was long attributed to Gujral and was said to have been born out of frugality, with leftover tikkas mixed together with a thick tomato gravy and dollops of butter. —The Week Uk, theweek, 8 Feb. 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