penny-wise

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of penny-wise Having these tenants lose their apartments and become homeless is penny-wise and pound-foolish. Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 20 Feb. 2024 Ironically, its source is here on Earth: Congress, which has the penny-wise but pound-foolish policy of releasing just a trickle of funding to the space agency every year, hobbles many of NASA's mission goals that require thinking past a two-year House or six-year Senate term. Phil Plait, Scientific American, 30 Oct. 2023 On the other hand, avoid being penny-wise, pound-foolish. Kristine Gill, Better Homes & Gardens, 12 Jan. 2024 Ironically, its source is here on Earth: Congress, which has the penny-wise but pound-foolish policy of releasing just a trickle of funding to the space agency every year, hobbles many of nasa's mission goals that require thinking past a two-year House or six-year Senate term. Phil Plait, Scientific American, 30 Oct. 2023 Delaying investments in sustainable energy and climate adaptation (such as coastal retreat in response to sea-level rise) is penny-wise but immensely pound-foolish. Corinne Purtill, Los Angeles Times, 18 Aug. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for penny-wise
Adjective
  • To attribute the corrosion of institutional trust to such bugbears as relativism or postmodernism is to ignore explanations that are both more concrete and more parsimonious.
    Gideon Lewis-Kraus, The New Yorker, 19 Feb. 2025
  • In a perfect and parsimonious world, a single two-stage spacecraft would land on Mars, scoop up soil samples in situ, and transfer them to an ascent stage which would blast off into orbit.
    Jeffrey Kluger, TIME, 13 Jan. 2025
Adjective
  • With the arrival of pitchers and catchers, one of the coldest and miserly baseball offseasons in memory is nearing conclusion, and it can’t be understated that, other than the Dodgers, Yankees and Mets (on one player), hardly any team spent any money.
    Bill Madden, New York Daily News, 15 Feb. 2025
  • One of the things that bedeviled American politics this century is our close elections, which has made our parties and their leaders miserly with their political capital.
    Chris Stirewalt, The Hill, 21 Jan. 2025
Adjective
  • Every year, a complacent, tightfisted city council turned down the recommendations.
    Margaret Talbot, The New Yorker, 2 Oct. 2023
  • Kotick played the tightfisted owner of the Oakland A’s.
    Cynthia Littleton, Variety, 31 May 2023
Adjective
  • Those who are approved must cope with notoriously unreliable in-home nursing, a byproduct of the state’s penurious reimbursement rates.
    Carol Marbin Miller, Miami Herald, 17 Jan. 2025
  • Even so, the general picture of a mother’s absence and a daughter’s understandable resentment at having had to pick up the maternal slack in penurious conditions comes through loud and clear.
    Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 14 Sep. 2024
Adjective
  • Even the most frugal bootstrappers on lower-budget expeditions pay around $40,000 for their shot at Everest.
    Owen Clarke, Outside Online, 28 Jan. 2025
  • Like Schwarzenegger before the Great Recession, but unlike frugal Jerry Brown, Gavin Newsom has not prepared the state fiscally to cope with emergencies.
    John Seiler, Orange County Register, 17 Jan. 2025
Adjective
  • Not only is saving Parmesan rinds a thrifty move, but cooking with them is an easy way to inject flavor into so many of your favorite dishes.
    Alana Al-Hatlani, Southern Living, 18 Jan. 2025
  • Utah is one of the most thrifty places on the planet.
    ABC News, ABC News, 22 Dec. 2024
Adjective
  • Continuous Development And Growth Never be lax or stingy about ongoing training, coaching and development opportunities for team members.
    Levi King, Forbes, 26 Feb. 2025
  • That’s nearly 14 percent better than Georgia normally shoots and nearly 20 percent better than the usually stingy Gators allow.
    Joe Rexrode, The Athletic, 25 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • Many Chileans are angry about the country’s unequal distribution of wealth and power, about niggardly pensions (for which people are supposed to save themselves) and about long waiting times for doctors’ visits and poor schools.
    The Economist, The Economist, 25 Dec. 2019
  • To tap one of the country’s two largest and most niggardly mines is hard enough.
    The Economist, The Economist, 3 Feb. 2018

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Cite this Entry

“Penny-wise.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/penny-wise. Accessed 3 Mar. 2025.

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