Synonyms for niggardly
- adjective
Most common
Synonyms by meaning
Adjective
1. Stingy — withholding for the sake of meanness; stingy, miserly
stingy, ungenerous, miserly, parsimonious, mean, penny-pinching, illiberal, churlish, avaricious, scanty, close, little, chintzy, cheap, tight, shabby, scant, sordid, sparing, narrow, grasping, close-fisted
Other
Definitions
- adj. 1
Withholding for the sake of meanness; stingy, miserly.
[W]here the owner of the house will be bountiful, it is not for the steward to be niggardly.
- adj. 2
Conceding few runs (of a bowler).
Related words
- Word family
- niggardliness
Choose the right word
Avaricious and covetous refer especially to acquisition, miserly, niggardly, parsimonious, and penurious to expenditure. Miserly and niggardly persons seek to gain by mean and petty savings; the miserly by stinting themselves, the niggardly by stinting others.
J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)
Example sentences
- stingy Shylock is greedy, and what is worse, very stingy.
- miserly The principal was always miserly with words.
- parsimonious The parsimonious patron spent aeons haggling with the clerk.
- niggard Many people considered him a niggard.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| niggardly | falling | |
| stingy | rising | |
| miserly | rising | |
| parsimonious | rising | |
| ungenerous | steady | |
| niggard | steady |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 4 letters
- mean1
- 5 letters
- close1, cheap1, tight1, scant1
- 6 letters
- little2, narrow2, shabby2, stingy2, sordid2, scanty2, scrimy
- 7 letters
- sparing2, miserly3, chintzy2, niggard2
- 8 letters
- grasping2, grudging2, churlish2
- 9 letters
- illiberal
- 10 letters
- avaricious, ungenerous
- 12 letters
- parsimonious5
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (little2 = 2 syllables).