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Webster 1913 Edition

Frugal

Fru′gal

,
Adj.
[L.
frugalis
, fr.
frugi
, lit., for
fruit
; hence, fit for food, useful, proper, temperate, the dative of
frux
,
frugis
, fruit, akin to E.
fruit
: cf. F.
frugal
. See
Fruit
,
Noun.
]
1.
Economical in the use or appropriation of resources; not wasteful or lavish; wise in the expenditure or application of force, materials, time, etc.; characterized by frugality; sparing; economical; saving;
as, a
frugal
housekeeper;
frugal
of time.
I oft admire
How Nature, wise and
frugal
, could commit
Such disproportions.
Milton.
2.
Obtained by, or appropriate to, economy;
as, a frugal fortune
.
“Frugal fare.”
Dryden.

Webster 1828 Edition

Frugal

FRU'GAL

,
Adj.
[L. frugalis. See Fruit.]
Economical in the use or appropriation of money, goods or provisions of any kind; saving unnecessary expense, either of money or of any thing else which is to be used or consumed; sparing; not profuse, prodigal or lavish. We ought to be frugal not only in the expenditure of money and of goods, but in the employment of time. It is followed by of, before the thing saved; as frugal of time. It is not synonymous with parsimonious, nor with thrifty, as now used.

Definition 2024

frugal

frugal

English

Adjective

frugal ‎(comparative more frugal, superlative most frugal)

  1. Avoiding unnecessary expenditure either of money or of anything else which is to be used or consumed; avoiding waste.
    • 1776, Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Book II, Chapter III:
      By what a frugal man annually saves, he not only affords maintenance to an additional number of productive hands, for that or the ensuing year, but [also] establishes as it were a perpetual fund for the maintenance of an equal number in all times to come.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Derived terms

Translations

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin frūgālis.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /fʁy.ɡal/

Adjective

frugal m ‎(feminine singular frugale, masculine plural frugaux, feminine plural frugales)

  1. frugal, austere

Related terms

Galician

Etymology

From Latin frūgālis.

Adjective

frugal m, f (plural frugais)

  1. frugal, economical

Portuguese

Etymology

From Latin frūgālis.

Adjective

frugal ‎(plural frugales, comparable)

  1. frugal, economical

Spanish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [fɾuˈɣ̞a̠l], [fɾuˈga̠l]
  • See also: frutal, brutal

Etymology

From Latin frūgālis.

Adjective

frugal m, f ‎(plural frugales)

  1. frugal, economical

Etymology

From Middle French, from Latin frugalis "virtuous, thrifty"

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈfruːɡəl/
  • Rhymes: -uːɡəl

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