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parsimony

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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WOTD – 14 August 2026

Etymology

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    From Late Middle English parcimonie, parcimony (“economy, frugality, thrift”),[1] borrowed from Latin parcimōnia, parsimōnia (“frugality, thrift, parsimony; moderation, restraint; stinginess”), from pars- (the past participial stem of parcō (“to economize, save up; etc.”)) + -mōnia (suffix forming abstract nouns).[2] The further etymology of parcō is uncertain; it is possibly from Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó (“away; off”) + *h₂erk- (“to hold; to guard, protect; to lock”).

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    parsimony (usually uncountable, plural parsimonies)

    1. (uncountable) With a negative connotation: great reluctance to spend money or other resources; miserliness, stinginess; (countable) an instance of this.
      Synonym: tightness
      • 1561, Richard Eden, “To the Ryght Worshypfull Syr Wyllyam Garrerd Knyght, and Master Thomas Lodge, Aldermen of the Citie of London, and Gouernours of the Honorable Felowshyp or Societie, aswell of Certaine of the Nobilitie, as of Marchauntes Aduenturers, for the Discouery of Landes, Territories, Ilandes, and Seignories Vnknowen, and Not before Their First Aduenture or Enterprise by Seas or Nauigations Commonly Frequented: And to the Right Worshypfull the Consulles, Assistentes, and Comminaltie of the Same Societie, Richarde Eden Wyssheth Health and Prosperitie”, in Martin Cortes [i.e., Martín Cortés de Albacar], translated by Richard Eden, The Arte of Nauigation: Conteynyng a Compendious Description of the Sphere, with the Makyng of Certen Instrumentes and Rules for Nauigations: and Exemplified by Manye Demonstrations. […], London: […] Richard Jugge, […], →OCLC, signature [¶ iii], recto:
        [T]he fauour of Princes and Magiſtrates noryſheth, augmenteth, and amplyfyeth all artes and ſciences by liberalitie, and extynguyſheth the ſame by miſerable couetouſnes and parcimonie.
      • 1592, Thomas Nash[e], Pierce Penilesse His Supplication to the Deuill. […], London: […] [John Charlewood for] Richard Ihones, […], →OCLC, signatures D4, recto – D4, verso:
        […] I will raile on him ſoundly: […] in ſome elaborate polliſhed Poem, which I will leaue to the world when I am dead, to be a liuing Image to all ages, of his beggerly parſimony and ignoble illiberalitie: […]
      • 1673, [Richard Allestree], “Sect[ion] III. Of Compassion.”, in The Ladies Calling. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the [Sheldonian] Theatre, →OCLC, part I, pages 70–71:
        [T]hey […] ſo contract and narrovv their minds, that they knovv not hovv to diſpoſe them to any real benefit of themſelves or others. And this is one of the moſt pernicious Parſimonies imaginable; […]
      • 1697, Virgil, “The Third Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 104, lines 279–284:
        [W]ith thy Sickle reap the rankeſt land: / And miniſter the Blade, vvith bounteous hand. / Nor be vvith harmful parſimony vvon / To follovv vvhat our homely Sires have done; / VVho fill'd the Pail vvith Beeſtings of the Covv: / But all her Udder to the Calf allovv.
      • 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 9, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:
        If mere parsimony could have made a man rich, Sir Pitt Crawley might have become very wealthy […]
      • 1931, V[ita] Sackville-West, “Part III”, in All Passion Spent, 1st American edition, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Doran & Company, →OCLC, page 195:
        William and Lavinia were furtively avaricious; they couldn't help being stingy, since parsimony ran in their blood— […]
    2. (archaic, uncountable) With a positive connotation: careful spending of money or other resources; frugality, thrift; (countable) an instance of this.
      Synonyms: economy, sparingness, thriftiness
      • 1593, [Charles Estienne], “For Infirmitie of the Bodie. Declamation, 10. That It is Better to be Sicke, then Alwaies Healthfull.”, in A. Mundy [i.e., Anthony Munday], transl., The Defence of Contraries. Paradoxes against Common Opinion, Debated in Forme of Declamations in Place of Publike Censure: […], London: […] Iohn Windet for Simon Waterson, →OCLC, page 83:
        [T]he feeble and vveake complexion of our bodies; hath at al times ſerued as a ſoueraigne aduertiſement, to the holie life of ſobrietie and parſimonie.
      • 1776 March 9, Adam Smith, “Of the Accumulation of Capital, or of Productive and Unproductive Labour”, in An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. […], volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, book II (Of the Nature, Accumulation, and Employment of Stock), page 410:
        Parſimony and not induſtry is the immediate cauſe of the increaſe of capital. Induſtry, indeed, provides the ſubject vvhich parſimony accumulates. But vvhatever induſtry might acquire, if parſimony did not ſave and ſtore up, the capital vvould never be the greater.
      • 1964 October, “New Books: The Waterford & Tramore Railway. By H. Fayle and A. T. Newham. David & Charles. 12s 6d.”, in Modern Railways, Shepperton, Surrey: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 296:
        Parsimony was responsible for low wages: at the turn of the century the Secretary & Manager was receiving £175 a year and the Locomotive Superintendent slightly less.
      1. (uncountable) The quality of not generously giving, showing, or using something intangible, such as emotion, praise, or words.
        • 1650 January 12 (date written; Gregorian calendar), William D’avenant [i.e., William Davenant], “The Authour’s Preface to His Much Honour’d Friend Mr Hobs [i.e., Thomas Hobbes]”, in Gondibert: An Heroick Poem, London: […] [Thomas Newcomb?] for John Holden, […], published 1651, →OCLC, page 26:
          By this rememberance of that uſual parſimony in ovvners of VVit, tovvards ſuch as vvould make uſe of their plenty, I lament the fortune of others, and may vvith the Reader to congratulate mine; […]
        • 1667; first published 1692, Robert South, “A Sermon Preached at the Consecration of a Chapel, 1667”, in Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions. […], volume I, London: […] J[ohn] H[eptinstall] for Thomas Bennet, […], →OCLC, page 362:
          [O]ne vvould think, that Parſimony in God's VVorſhip vvere the vvorſt huſbandry in the VVorld, for fear God ſhould proportion his Bleſſings to ſuch Devotions.
        • 1850, R[alph] W[aldo] Emerson, “Montaigne; or, The Skeptic”, in Representative Men: Seven Lectures, Boston, Mass.: Phillips, Sampson and Company, […], →OCLC, page 182:
          They accuse the divine providence of a certain parsimony.
        • 1876, James Russell Lowell, “Spenser”, in Among My Books. Second Series., Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, late Ticknor & Fields, and Fields, Osgood, & Co., →OCLC, page 178:
          No poet is so splendidly superfluous as he; none knows so well that in poetry enough is not only not so good as a feast, but is a beggarly parsimony.
        • 1906 May–October, Jack London, “The Mad God”, in White Fang, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., published October 1906, →OCLC, part 4 (The Superior Gods), pages 202–203:
          He was a small man to begin with; and upon his meagre frame was deposited an even more strikingly meagre head. […] Beginning here, as though regretting her parsimony, Nature had spread his features with a lavish hand.
      2. (uncountable) Chiefly in law of parsimony, principle of parsimony, etc.: the quality or characteristic of using the fewest facts or resources to explain a situation or to solve a problem.
        Synonyms: economy, efficiency, frugality, sparingness
        • a. 1857, William Hamilton, “Lecture XXXIX. The Regulative Faculty.—Law of the Conditioned, in Its Applications.—Causality.”, in H[enry] L[ongueville] Mansel and John Veitch, editors, Lectures on Metaphysics and Logic […], volume II, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, published 1859, →OCLC, pages 395–396:
          Now it is manifest, that, against the assumption of a special principle, which this doctrine makes, there exists a primary presumption of philosophy. This is the law of Parcimony, which forbids, without necessity, the multiplication of entities, powers, principles, or causes; above all, the postulation of an unknown force, where a known impotence can account for the effect. We are, therefore, entitled to apply Occam's razor to this theory of causality, unless it be proved impossible to explain the causal judgment at a cheaper rate, by deriving it from a higher and that a negative origin.
        • 2019 February 15, Boyd A. Mori [et al.], “A New Species of Contarinia Rondani (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) that Induces Flower Galls on Canola (Brassicaceae) in the Canadian Prairies”, in The Canadian Entomologist, volume 151, number 2, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press for the Entomological Society of Canada, published April 2019, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, pages 131–148:
          We used three search heuristics, Bayesian inference, maximum likelihood, and maximum parsimony, to construct phylogenies from unique COI haplotypes and used default parameters for analyses unless otherwise noted.

    Derived terms

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    Descendants

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    • → Indonesian: parsimoni

    Translations

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    See also

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    References

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    1. ^ “parcimōnī, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
    2. ^ “parsimony, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, June 2026; “parsimony, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

    Further reading

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