IdiomTopic: money

penny-pinching

/ˈpen.iˌpɪn.tʃɪŋ/INFORMAL · C1

Meaning

unwilling to spend money

Examples

1The penny-pinching owner refused to replace the broken kettle despite record profits.
2His penny-pinching meant staff had to bring their own pens.
3Despite being wealthy, our penny-pinching host would not provide even a cup of tea.
4Our penny-pinching landlord kept the heating off despite having plenty of money.
5The penny-pinching manager refused to buy pens, although the company had ample funds.

Grammar

An adjective before a noun, or an uncountable noun. Keep the compound hyphenated.

Similar in meaning

tighten your belt

More idioms about money

All 20 idioms and the topic quiz →

cost an arm and a legto be very expensive break the bankto cost more than you can afford make ends meetto have just enough money to live on pay through the noseto pay far too much for something save for a rainy dayto keep money for future problems in the redowing money or losing money

English Idioms

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