A.Word.A.Day--penurious

[msesheta]

Wordsmith.org

The Magic of Words

Aug 26, 2011

This week's theme
Words to describe people

This week's words
parvenu
nubile
mountebank
losel
penurious

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penurious

PRONUNCIATION:

(puh-NOOR-ee-uhs, -NYOOR-)

MEANING:

adjective:
1. Extremely poor.
2. Extremely frugal or stingy.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin penuriosus (needy), from penuria (want, need). Earliest documented use: 1590.

USAGE:

"Precisely because authors are penurious, however, most of us supplement our income by reviewing."
Francis Wheen; The Hunting of the Snark; The Financial Times (London, UK); Aug 5, 2011.

Explore "penurious" in the Visual Thesaurus.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us. -Helen Keller, author and lecturer (1880-1968)




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