as in selfish
giving or sharing as little as possible
my brother, who is notoriously miserly, surprised us when he offered to pick up the tab
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of miserly
Newcastle's player sale profits were miserly for years until June 2024
Profit on player sales from 2014 to 2024 (£millions)
Column chart of Newcastle United profit on player sales, where club record £69.8m in 2023-24 far outweigh what came before.
—
Chris Weatherspoon, New York Times, 23 Apr. 2025
Here's the unvarnished truth: Medicaid's miserly reimbursement rates have driven countless doctors to stop accepting patients in the program.
—Steve Forbes, Forbes.com, 17 Apr. 2025
Chrissy made a predictably miserly offer of $230,000, and obviously David did not take it.
—Laura Bradley, Vulture, 25 Mar. 2025
Up to then, Wrexham had by far the most miserly defence in League One after conceding just 11 goals in 19 league games — five better than Birmingham City and Huddersfield Town.
—Richard Sutcliffe, The Athletic, 23 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for miserly
Chris Weatherspoon, New York Times, 23 Apr. 2025
Here's the unvarnished truth: Medicaid's miserly reimbursement rates have driven countless doctors to stop accepting patients in the program.
—Steve Forbes, Forbes.com, 17 Apr. 2025
Chrissy made a predictably miserly offer of $230,000, and obviously David did not take it.
—Laura Bradley, Vulture, 25 Mar. 2025
Up to then, Wrexham had by far the most miserly defence in League One after conceding just 11 goals in 19 league games — five better than Birmingham City and Huddersfield Town.
—Richard Sutcliffe, The Athletic, 23 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for miserly
Recent Examples of Synonyms for miserly
Adjective
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Shame on him for ignoring the ramifications of Trump’s selfish, vengeful tactics.—
DP Opinion,
Denver Post,
28 July 2025
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Committing to changing your work-life balance will be fueled by your subconscious desire to be more selfish with your time.—
Liz Simmons,
StyleCaster,
28 July 2025
Adjective
-
State officials are careful to identify the correct individual with the precise address before sending any money.—
Christopher Keating,
Hartford Courant,
25 July 2025
-
The hamstring injury Mount suffered overextending his leg in the Manchester derby in December kept him out until March, and Amorim was careful to reintroduce him — and praised his diligence in returning to fitness.—
Laurie Whitwell,
New York Times,
25 July 2025
Adjective
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So, what would really help the Mets’ pen would be a late-game arm who is stingy with free passes.—
Tim Britton,
New York Times,
28 July 2025
-
Apple has always been a bit stingy with RAM in iDevices, even more so a few years ago, and especially in lower-end devices (Apple Intelligence and its apparent 8GB RAM requirement have been a bit of an equalizer here).—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
24 July 2025
Adjective
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But the vast majority are cynical and greedy and scared of losing their jobs.—
Chicago Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
3 July 2025
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A far cry from the mild-mannered Peter Parker in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man films, Tully is an abusive, hot-headed, and greedy slime ball who leverages post-war desperation into a thriving criminal business.—
Josh Weiss,
Forbes.com,
2 July 2025
Adjective
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Wimpy was a mild-mannered, soft-spoken, lazy, parsimonious, and utterly gluttonous hamburger-wolfing straight man to Popeye.—
Richard Lederer,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
19 July 2025
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Both parsimonious tenets are measurable, explainable and actionable.—
Noah Barsky,
Forbes.com,
25 June 2025
Adjective
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Every year, a complacent, tightfisted city council turned down the recommendations.—
Margaret Talbot,
The New Yorker,
2 Oct. 2023
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Kotick played the tightfisted owner of the Oakland A’s.—
Cynthia Littleton,
Variety,
31 May 2023
Adjective
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At least with Derrick, the shallowness seems intentional, if ungenerous.—
Angie Han,
HollywoodReporter,
13 June 2025
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But, even though there was nothing the slightest bit ungracious or ungenerous about her performance, it was felt more like the audience being asked to come to her.—
Chris Willman,
Variety,
26 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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Jarrett Stidham fired a tight pass in the end zone to Franklin, who shook his defender with a crisp slant route.—
Nick Kosmider,
New York Times,
2 Aug. 2025
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Developers face tighter deadlines and stricter sourcing rules.—
Lisa Setyon,Jeniece Pettitt,
CNBC,
2 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Miserly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/miserly. Accessed 6 Aug. 2025.
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