frugal · adj — careful or wise in expenditure; avoiding waste. It carries an Arena rating of 1464, earned across 6 head-to-head judged battles.
Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, frugal ranks #483 of 17,188 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #1,691 of 17,162 for Most Elegant Words, #3,679 of 17,197 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #4,939 of 17,180 for Most Ingenious Words.
frugal is pronounced /ˈfɹuːɡəl/.
Why “frugal” is a great word
Careful and prudent in the use of resources, especially money, to avoid waste. From Middle French frugal, from Latin frugalis ("virtuous, thrifty"), from the undeclined adjective frugi ("useful, proper, temperate, economical"), first attested in English in the 1590s. Unlike "cheap," which suggests a low cost or reluctance to spend, often implying poor quality or stinginess, or "prodigal," its direct, wasteful opposite, frugality is a discipline of conservation, not deprivation. It is the quiet satisfaction of darning a sock, the deliberate savoring of a single square of dark chocolate, the practiced art of making a pot of soup last a week—a philosophy that finds abundance in sufficiency.
❧ Essay by Lexicurio’s AI · definition, etymology & citations from published sources
Etymology
From Middle French, from Latin frugalis (“virtuous, thrifty”). Displaced native Old English spærhende (literally “spare-handed”).
adj
- Careful or wise in expenditure; avoiding waste.e.g.“frugal advice”
- Obtained by or characterized by frugality.e.g.“frugal fortune; frugal fare”
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.