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Definition of "penurious" [pe•nu•ri•ous]

  • Unwilling to spend money; stingy. (adjective)
  • Yielding little; barren: a penurious land. (adjective)
  • Poverty-stricken; destitute. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "penurious" in a sentence
  • "At the risk of being called penurious, I confess that I was immensely relieved when I learned that these precious jewels in the shape of fruit had been paid for in advance by the opulent mother of the Countess."
  • "Some of my readers may think so small a loss scarcely worth keeping awake for, but Mrs. Joe Tucker was a strictly economical and saving woman -- some even called her penurious -- and the loss of ten cents troubled her."
  • "a kind of penurious god, very niggardly of his opportunities: he must be watched like a hard-hearted treasurer; for he bolts out on the sudden, and, if you take him not in the nick, he vanishes in a twinkling."