Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Grudging and petty in giving or spending.
- adj. Meanly small; scanty or meager: left the waiter a niggardly tip.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Like a niggard; sordidly parsimonious or sparing; close-fisted; stingy: as, a niggardly person.
- Characteristic of a niggard; meanly parsimonious; scanty: as, niggardly entertainment; niggardly thrift.
- Synonyms Parsimonious, Stingy, etc.(see penurious), illiberal, close-fisted, saving, chary.
- In the manner of a niggard; sparingly; parsimoniously.
Wiktionary
- adj. Withholding for the sake of meanness; stingy, miserly.
- adv. In a parsimonious way; sparingly, stingily.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Meanly covetous or avaricious in dealing with others; stingy; niggard.
- adv. In a niggard manner.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. petty or reluctant in giving or spending
Examples
“There's a broad difference between using the term niggardly - which has a totally different meaning and etymology to that of the N word - and saying that a black man is "uppity.”
“A city councilman lost his job because he used the word niggardly in a report.”
Eastwood thinks political correctness has made society humourless
“A climate where the word niggardly is dangerous to your employment prospects.”
“That is not the only case, there was the response to the use of the word niggardly as it related to a budget matter, but the left wing community went wild on the white man who made the statement.”
Think Progress » CNN’s Glenn Beck Calls Anti-Gay Slur Simply A ‘Naughty Name’
“Hell, I even hesitate to use the adjective "niggardly" -- an absolutely legitimate word dating back to Middle English -- for fear that it and/or I will be misunderstood.”
“It's like the word "niggardly" -- it sounds racist, and it looks racist, but (historically, at least) it's not.”
“He has discouraged me from using the word niggardly in polite conversation because of its similarity to another N word.”
“But though it was comparatively easy for Velasquez to collect the necessary material and men, it was far more difficult for him -- whom an old writer describes as niggardly, credulous, and suspicious in disposition -- to choose a fit leader.”
Celebrated Travels and Travellers Part I. The Exploration of the World
“Didn't some senator lose his ride over thw word niggardly? dagwood: Because you are so niggardly, stick around, it gets nagative and nugative too. dafuck: why is everybody so niggative??? wotak: FAIL link has been placed in the queue. cockroach: With a penny-whistle.”
“Several years ago, David Howard, a former staff member of Washington DC Mayor, Anthony Williams, used "niggardly" in a private meeting and was forced to resign.”
The Huffington Post: Byron Williams: The N-Word and our Collective Immaturity
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘niggardly’.
-
GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
-
[Open] Correctly-spelled words that look like m...
Thanks to everyone who added to this list. (I moved it to a new URL, so all the words added on the first day are credited to me—sorry about that.)
(Here’s the original list with a slo...orignal, refect, collum, lightening, manakin, neumatic, mutch, miosis, radicle, tryptic, kyack, apatite and 117 more...
-
Words and Names that Sound Naughty but Aren't
For whatever reason, speaking some words and names can just make you feel dirty. What words might you feel uncomfortable uttering in front of your 8-year-old child or 80-year-old grandmother?
peter o'toole, cockpit, bangkok, ballcock, titmouse, lipsitz, shih tzu, niggardly, andy dick, sausage roll, humdinger, debugger and 3 more...
-
Unwording
Outlawed words and books, like this.
samizdat, satanic verses, profanity, oriental, antilanguage, biddy, aviatrix, squaw, deaf-mute, border patrolman, cassandra, niggardly and 45 more...
-
Vocab to Learn
philander, affidavit, ambrosia, niggardly, insipid, sedulous, pithy, felicity, lurid, indolent, ponderous, hirsute and 2 more...
-
Fun-Sounding Words
oscillation, elation, axolotl, saleratus, tmesis, epeolatry, trothplight, just for fun, nyctalgia, hendiadys, anaptyxis, haplology and 5 more...
whichbe “Be not niggardly of what costs thee nothing, as courtesy, counsel, & countenance.�? --Benjamin Franklin Jun 17, 2009
tbtabby Dinosaur Comics used it. Mar 1, 2009
john Sionnach, I agree that the incident you link to is a travesty. I can't state it any better than the author, who calls it "stupidity masquerading as sensitivity." I'd like to think there's a middle ground where people can be respectful without resorting to mindless censorship.
Sorry if I was a bit heated there, I didn't need to be calling names. I'm no fan of political correctness, but I value politeness, and should have shown more myself. Dec 5, 2007
sionnach Normally I would agree with John's eminently reasonable view, which I think of as essentially Garneresque (be aware of the likely impact of a particular choice of term or expression on one's readers/listeners, and if it seems to be undesirably distracting, consider an alternative; Garner argues for this approach on purely pragmatic grounds).
But then I recall that there are cases on record of people losing their jobs for using the word*, and I think that we do have some obligation to take a stand against rampant stupidity and ignorance.
niggardly brouhaha Dec 5, 2007
bilby Visitors to Australia are often surprised to see Coon Cheese being sold in the supermarket. The current (and previous) owners of the brand have vigorously defended the name in honour of the inventor of the cheese's original formula, a certain E.W. Coon. Given that the name has nothing to do with racial abuse, I really don't have a problem with it. If anything it probably helps to defuse the potency of coon used as a slur because to the Australian ear it sounds vaguely silly.
I don't think I've enlightened the commentary on niggardly very much. If I wasn't a vegan I'd go and have some cheese right now. Sheeesz. Dec 5, 2007
john I understand that the only overt connection between this word and the slur is phonetic, but you have an impoverished notion of language and a tin ear if you're not conscious of its evocative power.
I'm not saying that "niggardly" shouldn't be used, but baiting those who pause at its use is itself niggardly, both pedantic and small minded. Dec 5, 2007
rolig but everything to do with niggards! Dec 5, 2007
pomegranate One of my favorite words, but almost everytime I use it, people get offended. "Niggardly" has nothing to do with "niggars," people! Dec 4, 2007