frugality

UK/fɹuːˈɡæləti/US/fɹuːˈɡæləti/

nounC2Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speech — frugal sits at #13,049leans written

Frugality is the habit of spending as little as possible. Practise frugality.

It is a virtue when chosen and a necessity when not, which is a distinction people forget. Frugality is about the whole habit rather than any single decision to save.

Definitions of frugality

1nounfrugalityThe habit of spending as little as possible.C2
“The frugality of that household paid for two university courses.”

frugality is a habit.

Where it comes from

Latin frugalitas comes from frugalis, useful or thrifty, from frux, fruit or produce.

Middle French
frugalité
English, today
frugality

Borrowed from Middle French frugalité. by surface analysis, frugal + -ity.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Shopping & Money

Practise this word

frugality in the wild

Getty was known for his frugality, going so far as to haggle with the kidnappers when his grandson was held to ransom in 1973.
J. Paul Getty
Bohemians were associated with unorthodox or anti-establishment political or social viewpoints expressed through free love, frugality, and, in some cases, simple living, van dwelling or voluntary poverty.
Bohemianism
Fixation in this stage can potentially result in a personality marked by frugality, obstinacy and orderliness.
Anal retentiveness
The rotation of surplus household stock at car boot sales reduces waste and promotes frugality.
Car boot sale
Spendthrift derives from an obsolete sense of the word thrift to mean prosperity rather than frugality, so a "spendthrift" is one who has spent their prosperity.
Spendthrift

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

frugal

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