spar·ing

(spâr′ĭng)

adj.

1. Given to or marked by prudence and restraint in the use of material resources.

2. Deficient or limited in quantity, fullness, or extent: sparing amounts of criticism.

spar′ing·ly adv.

spar′ing·ness n.

Synonyms: sparing, frugal, thrifty, economical
These adjectives mean exercising or reflecting care in the use of resources, such as money. Sparing stresses restraint, as in expenditure: a quiet librarian who was sparing of words. Frugal implies self-denial and abstention from luxury: a frugal diet; a frugal monk. Thrifty suggests industry, care, and diligence in conserving means: grew up during the Depression and learned to be thrifty. Economical emphasizes prudence, skillful management, and the avoidance of waste: an economical shopper; an economical use of energy.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Adv.

sparingly - to a meager degree or in a meager manner; "these voices are meagerly represented at the conference"; "the area is slenderly endowed with natural resources"

meagerly, meagrely, slenderly

Translations

قَليلا، باقْتِصاد، إلى حَدٍّ ضَئيل

střídmě

tilbageholdende

sparsam

frugalement

sparlega

con parsimonia

idarelitutumlu olarak

保守地爱惜地节俭地

sparingly

[ˈspɛərɪŋlɪ] ADV [use, apply] → con moderación, en pequeñas cantidades; [eat] → frugalmente, con moderación
he spends his money sparingly → es cuidadoso con el dinero, mira mucho lo que gasta
we used water sparingly → tuvimos cuidado de no gastar mucha agua
he uses colour sparingly → es parco en el uso de los colores

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

sparingly

[ˈspɛərɪŋli] adv → avec modération

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

sparingly

adv → sparsam; spend, drink, eat → in Maßen; to use something sparingly → mit etw sparsam umgehen; these plants should be watered more sparingly → diese Pflanzen sollten mäßiger gegossen werden

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

sparingly

[ˈspɛərɪŋlɪ] adv (eat, live) → frugalmente; (use, drink) → con moderazione, moderatamente

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

spare

(speə) verb

1. to manage without. No-one can be spared from this office.

2. to afford or set aside for a purpose. I can't spare the time for a holiday.

3. to treat with mercy; to avoid injuring etc. `Spare us!' they begged.

4. to avoid causing grief, trouble etc to (a person). Break the news gently in order to spare her as much as possible.

5. to avoid using, spending etc. He spared no expense in his desire to help us.

6. to avoid troubling (a person with something); to save (a person trouble etc). I answered the letter myself in order to spare you the bother.

adjective

1. extra; not actually being used. We haven't a spare (bed) room for guests in our house.

2. (of time etc) free for leisure etc. What do you do in your spare time?

noun

1. a spare part (for a car etc). They sell spares at that garage.

2. an extra wheel etc, kept for emergencies.

ˈsparing adjective

careful or economical.

ˈsparingly adverb

spare part

a part for a machine etc, used to replace an identical part if it breaks etc.

spare rib

a rib of pork with only a small amount of meat left on it.

(and) to spare

in greater supply or quantity than is needed; extra. I'll go to an exhibition if I have time to spare; I have enough food and to spare.

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Speech of touch towards others, should be sparingly used; for discourse ought to be as a field, without coming home to any man.

View in context

"Dine sparingly and sup more sparingly still; for the health of the whole body is forged in the workshop of the stomach.

View in context

The legislator gave great attention to encourage a habit of eating sparingly, as very useful to the citizens.

View in context

So I drifted for three days, eating and drinking sparingly, and meditating upon all that had happened to me,--not desiring very greatly then to see men again.

View in context

He spoke but to command, and commanded but to be obeyed; he dealt sparingly with his words, and bountifully with his whip, never using the former where the latter would answer as well.

View in context

For my own part, with the assistance of my valet, who, as I have before stated, always officiated as spoon on these occasions, I ate sparingly from one of Tinor's trenchers, of poee-poee; which was devoted exclusively for my own use, being mixed with the milky meat of ripe cocoanut.

View in context

Some stimulating cordials he must have, but they should be judiciously diluted and sparingly used; and I find it very difficult to keep him to this.

View in context

Revolutions of this kind, it is true, do frequently occur in histories and dramatic writers, for no other reason than because the history or play draws to a conclusion, and are justified by authority of authors; yet, though we insist upon as much authority as any author whatever, we shall use this power very sparingly, and never but when we are driven to it by necessity, which we do not at present foresee will happen in this work.

View in context

But it was not till the fourth year that I could allow myself the least grain of this corn to eat, and even then but sparingly, as I shall say afterwards, in its order; for I lost all that I sowed the first season by not observing the proper time; for I sowed it just before the dry season, so that it never came up at all, at least not as it would have done; of which in its place.

View in context

The money gained in this way, with the good wages he received as foreman, would soon enable them to get beforehand with the world, so sparingly as they would all live now.

View in context

Nell and her grandfather ate sparingly, for both were occupied with their own reflections; the other gentlemen, for whose constitutions beer was too weak and tame a liquid, consoled themselves with spirits and tobacco.

View in context

He also drank half a glass of this sparingly served wine, and found it to be nothing but that horrible Montreuil--the terror of all expert palates.

View in context