niggardly

nig·gard·ly

(nĭg′ərd-lē)

adj.

1. Grudging and petty in giving or spending.

2. Meanly small; scanty or meager: left the waiter a niggardly tip.

nig′gard·li·ness n.

nig′gard·ly adv.

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.

niggardly

(ˈnɪɡədlɪ)

adj

1. stingy or ungenerous

2. meagre: a niggardly salary.

adv

stingily; grudgingly

ˈniggardliness n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

nig•gard•ly

(ˈnɪg ərd li)

adj. Sometimes Offensive.

1. reluctant to give or spend; stingy; miserly.

2. meanly or ungenerously small or scanty: a niggardly tip to a waiter.

[1520–30]

nig′gard•li•ness, n.

usage: See niggard.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Adj.

niggardly - petty or reluctant in giving or spending; "a niggardly tip"

grudging, scrimy

stingy, ungenerous - unwilling to spend; "she practices economy without being stingy"; "an ungenerous response to the appeal for funds"

niggardly

adjective

1. stingy, mean, avaricious, ungenerous, close, near (informal), sparing, grudging, mercenary, frugal, parsimonious, penurious, tightfisted, Scrooge-like, tight-arse (taboo slang), tight-arsed (taboo slang), tight-ass (U.S. taboo slang), tight-assed (U.S. taboo slang), snoep (S. African informal), tight as a duck's arse (taboo slang) Officials say the EU is being particularly niggardly with these funds.
stingy liberal, generous, lavish, prodigal, bountiful, munificent

2. paltry, mean, small, inadequate, miserable, pathetic, insufficient, beggarly, scant, meagre, skimpy, measly, scanty, wretched The niggardly compensation for her frightening ordeal amounted to just £6,500.
paltry liberal, generous, handsome, ample, abundant, plentiful, copious, bountiful, profuse

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

niggardly

adjective

Ungenerously or pettily reluctant to spend money:

cheap, close, close-fisted, costive, hard-fisted, mean, miserly, niggard, parsimonious, penny-pinching, penurious, petty, pinching, stingy, tight, tightfisted.

Translations

بَخيل، مُمْسِك اليَد

lakomýskoupý

karrig

knauserig

chiche mesquinement

nánasarlegur; nískur; smánarlegur

avaro misero

skops

gierig krenterig

cimrihasis

吝啬的小气的

niggardly

[ˈnɪgədlɪ] ADJ [person] → tacaño; [allowance] → miserable

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

niggardly

[ˈnɪgə^rdli] adj

[person, institution] → pingre

[allowance, amount] → misérable; [salary] → maigre; [supply] → maigre

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

niggardly

adj person → knaus(e)rig; amount, portion also → armselig, kümmerlich

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

niggardly

[ˈnɪgədlɪ] adj (person) → tirchio/a, spilorcio/a; (allowance, amount) → misero/a

niggardly

(ˈnigədli) adjective

not generous; unwilling to give or spend money. He's niggardly with his money; a niggardly gift.

Mentioned in ?

References in classic literature ?

Meantime, I searched, with great interest, the advertising columns of the newspapers, and wrote answers to every 'Wanted a Governess' that appeared at all eligible; but all my letters, as well as the replies, when I got any, were dutifully shown to my mother; and she, to my chagrin, made me reject the situations one after another: these were low people, these were too exacting in their demands, and these too niggardly in their remuneration.

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It had not been our way to build great fires; we were, indeed, by the captain's orders, somewhat niggardly of firewood, and I began to fear that something had gone wrong while I was absent.

View in context

The evening was lovely, and our three friends enjoyed it in the cool shade of the mimosas, after a substantial repast, at which the tea and the punch were dealt out with no niggardly hand.

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They were not niggardly, these tramps, and he who had money did not hesitate to share it among the rest.

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"A superintendent who is never sordid or niggardly," added Monsieur; "and who pays in gold all the orders I have on him."

View in context

He was cramped in every way by a niggardly commission, and was using lighter structural material than he thought proper.

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``A barley loaf and a pitcher of water that they gave me, the niggardly traitors, whom my father, and I myself, had enriched, when their best resources were the flitches of bacon and measures of corn, out of which they wheedled poor serfs and bondsmen, in exchange for their prayers the nest of foul ungrateful vipers barley bread and ditch water to, such a patron as I had been!

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Do not be in a hurry to send him away, nor niggardly in the presents you make to one who is in such great need, for heaven has blessed all of you with great abundance."

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"Then mind you fall in love in the right place, and don't get a wife who will drain your purse and make you niggardly in spite of yourself.

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These creatures, which have always been distinguished for a neighborly and companionable familiarity with authors, liberally or niggardly embellish the manuscripts in process of growth under the pen, according to their bodily habit, bringing out the sense of the work by a species of interpretation superior to, and independent of, the writer's powers.

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When the jealous and niggardly policy of their British sovereign denied them even that humblest of requests, and instead of liberty would barely consent to promise connivance, neither he nor they might be aware that they were laying the foundations of a power, and that he was sowing the seeds of a spirit, which, in less than two hundred years, would stagger the throne of his descendants, and shake his united kingdoms to the centre.

View in context

If you find yourselves giving way under his threats, just turn your eyes on that noble-looking Pawnee, whose time is measured with a hand as niggardly, as that with which a trader in the towns gives forth the fruits of the Lord, inch by inch, in order to satisfy his covetousness.