as in miserly
giving or sharing as little as possible
the company is pretty tightfisted when it comes to bonuses
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Recent Examples of tightfisted
Diplomats from neighboring countries, Afghans overseas and U.N. officials have all called on the United States to relax its tightfisted approach.
—
Ishaan Tharoor, Washington Post, 22 June 2022
Dobie’s cantankerous, tightfisted father and sweet, harebrained mother were played by the characters actors Frank Faylen and Florida Friebus.
—Margalit Fox, New York Times, 9 Jan. 2022
The ambience reflects Hankey’s tightfisted approach to his seven companies, which include a Toyota dealership, a dealer management software developer and Midway Car Rental, which does a big business renting exotic cars.
—Los Angeles Times, 27 Sep. 2021
The Heiress Hunt is about two strong-willed individuals learning to wrest the tightfisted control that has dictated their lives (and their success).
—Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 1 Apr. 2021
See All Example Sentences for tightfisted
Ishaan Tharoor, Washington Post, 22 June 2022
Dobie’s cantankerous, tightfisted father and sweet, harebrained mother were played by the characters actors Frank Faylen and Florida Friebus.
—Margalit Fox, New York Times, 9 Jan. 2022
The ambience reflects Hankey’s tightfisted approach to his seven companies, which include a Toyota dealership, a dealer management software developer and Midway Car Rental, which does a big business renting exotic cars.
—Los Angeles Times, 27 Sep. 2021
The Heiress Hunt is about two strong-willed individuals learning to wrest the tightfisted control that has dictated their lives (and their success).
—Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 1 Apr. 2021
See All Example Sentences for tightfisted
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tightfisted
Adjective
-
Como had been neck-and-neck with Roma’s miserly backline before shipping four at Inter last Saturday, a chastening defeat that ended an unbeaten run stretching back to the end of August.—
Jack Bantock,
New York Times,
12 Dec. 2025
-
In this version, miserly Madame Eleanor is visited by the ghost former business partner Jacob Marley as well as a few other apparitions.—
Christopher Smith,
Oc Register,
26 Nov. 2025
Adjective
-
Unfortunately, buying a legitimate one to replace what’s been stolen can cost five, 10, or even 20 times that if your dealer’s service department is especially greedy, which is a big part of the problem here.—
Adam Ismail,
The Drive,
5 Feb. 2026
-
Their false claims about getting financially fleeced by Uncle Sam were fueled by a rather sophisticated, albeit deceitful and shameful lobbying campaign, sponsored by greedy gadflies out to make a quick buck.—
Tom Margenau,
Dallas Morning News,
1 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Until crude vulgarians like Miller came along, no prominent American political figure would claim on our behalf a right to use our power for purely selfish ends, at the expense of other democratic states and foreign peoples.—
Bradley Gitz,
Arkansas Online,
9 Feb. 2026
-
There are selfish motives as Hawk is also secretly trying to track down whoever is blackmailing him.—
Bryan Alexander,
USA Today,
4 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
But the parsimonious Lady Featherington (Polly Walker) gives Varly her old hideous yellow and green dresses instead of a raise (this is clearly the Regency-era equivalent of the office pizza party).—
Kelly Lawler,
USA Today,
29 Jan. 2026
-
The latter offers a more judicious form of clemency, but only on a parsimonious, individual basis.—
Bernadette Meyler,
Harpers Magazine,
27 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
O’Leary’s task is to make a stingy defense for the past two seasons even stingier.—
Elliott Teaford,
Oc Register,
11 Feb. 2026
-
Darnold has All-Pro wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba and running back Kenneth Walker, and the Seahawks defense is the stingiest in the league.—
Rob Maaddi,
Chicago Tribune,
7 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
There’s an ungenerous and shallow way to look at this film as little more than a highlight reel of Hammer’s work, a paltry substitute for actually spending meaningful time with the work itself.—
Sam Bodrojan,
IndieWire,
24 Jan. 2026
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Stars and billionaires are calling out the super-rich for being ungenerous As the world mints hundreds of thousands of millionaires yearly and billionaire wealth soars to record highs, some leaders can’t stand to stay quiet.—
Emma Burleigh,
Fortune,
21 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
The massacre prompted a national reckoning about violence against women and led to tighter gun laws.—
Lex Harvey,
CNN Money,
11 Feb. 2026
-
However, despite workers’ noticeable preference for remote positions, the demands of employers and a much tighter job market suggest many may need to adjust to the new realities of the marketplace.—
Victoria Baeza Garcia,
Dallas Morning News,
10 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
There’s a cast of wanderers, visionaries, and itinerants, the self-educated and self-published, a long lineage of cranks and outcasts, mostly penurious, always opinionated, stretching away into the mists of pseudohistory.—
Hari Kunzru,
Harpers Magazine,
27 Jan. 2026
-
Then the usually penurious Indians suddenly splurged.—
Chuck Murr,
Forbes.com,
19 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Tightfisted.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tightfisted. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
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