frugal

frugal
adjective
Synonyms of frugal
: characterized by or reflecting economy in the use of resources
frugally
;
 adverb


Did you know?
Frugal Has Surprising Roots

Folks who are frugal tend to frown on the frivolous frittering away of the fruits of their labor, so it may surprise you to learn that frugal comes from the Latin word fr;x, which means, among other things, “fruit.” Perhaps because of fruit’s financial value, from fr;x followed fr;g;, an adjective meaning “deserving, sober, or thrifty,” which finagled its way into Late Latin in the form of fr;g;lis (“not given to excess; temperate, sober, simple”), then Middle French, and finally English, as the familiar frugal. Today, frugal is used to describe things that reflect a fastidious dedication to foregoing the fancy, as in “he insists on a frugal diet of fungi and fava beans.” Frugal can also describe a person, usually with respect to money, but one can be frugal with other things, too, such as words that start with the letter f, though we certainly haven’t been in this paragraph.

Synonyms
economical
economizing
provident
scrimping
sparing
thrifty
Choose the Right Synonym for frugal

sparing, frugal, thrifty, economical mean careful in the use of one's money or resources.

sparing stresses abstention and restraint.

sparing in the offering of advice
frugal implies absence of luxury and simplicity of lifestyle.

ran a frugal household
thrifty stresses good management and industry.

thrifty use of nonrenewable resources
economical stresses prudent management, lack of wastefulness, and use of things to their best advantage.

an economical health care plan
Examples of frugal in a Sentence
His meals are the frugal fare of the poor: tea, bread, yogurt, a bit of cheese, vegetables.
—Johanna McGeary, Time, 25 Oct. 2004
Like frugal cooks everywhere, Cajun cooks from generations past found plenty of ways to use every part of the animals they raised.
—Jeremy Sauer, Cook's Country, June 1995
In a frugal white frame house of tiny rooms that shook with every passing freight train, five boys of German immigrant background had grown up at the turn of the twentieth century.
—Robert D. Kaplan, An Empire Wilderness, 1988
a frugal meal of bread and cheese
by being frugal, the family is able to stretch its monthly budget
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
But a new trend is sweeping the other way — urging repurposing, more frugal lifestyles and prioritizing quality over quantity.
—Alicia Adamczyk, Fortune Europe, 13 Aug. 2024
The other side: He's been criticized for botching the end of the Bulls dynasty and has been maligned for frugal spending for both franchises.
—Justin Kaufmann, Axios, 17 Oct. 2024
Intel Core Ultra 200: Drastically lower power and thermals The key takeaway, though, is that the Core Ultra 200 series will be far more power frugal, drawing up to 165W less than the 14th gen models, with the Core Ultra 9 285K drawing on average 80W less in games.
—Antony Leather, Forbes, 10 Oct. 2024
And due to higher costs, Sago found that shoppers have become more frugal and bargain-seeking.
—Arthur Zaczkiewicz, WWD, 5 Sep. 2024