Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Unusual or excessive frugality; extreme economy or stinginess.
- n. Adoption of the simplest assumption in the formulation of a theory or in the interpretation of data, especially in accordance with the rule of Ockham's razor.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Sparingness in the use or expenditure of means; most commonly, excessive or unnecessary economy; stinginess; niggardliness.
- n. Synonyms Stinginess, niggardliness, penuriousness. See penurious.
Wiktionary
- n. Great reluctance to spend money unnecessarily.
- n. By analogy from (1), principle of using the least resources or explanations to solve a problem.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Closeness or sparingness in the expenditure of money; -- generally in a bad sense; excessive frugality; niggardliness.
WordNet 3.0
- n. extreme stinginess
- n. extreme care in spending money; reluctance to spend money unnecessarily
Etymologies
- Middle English parcimony, from Latin parsimōnia, from parsus, past participle of parcere, to spare.
Examples
“Simply put, parsimony is in vogue in boardrooms right now.”
“The principle of parsimony is a centuries-old aspect of the scientific method.”
“Doug: You do assume (in the absence of any observation) that parsimony is more reliable guide to understanding the natural order than say an approach that is more complex.”
“Doug: And your mention of parsimony is not something that is directly derived from the observation, it is your presupposition.”
“You do assume (in the absence of any observation) that parsimony is more reliable guide to understanding the natural order than say an approach that is more complex.”
“And your mention of parsimony is not something that is directly derived from the observation, it is your presupposition.”
“As in parsimony, Darwinism seems the simplest solution to satisfy the non-telic, power hungry palettes.”
“Oh, it was worth while to have/[Page 233]/spent four days in parsimony; to have been bitten with bugs; to have been irritated with fuss and humbug, and last of all to have been done out of my travelling expenses back! it was worth while to have had all this botheration to refresh my sense of all my mercies.”
“It's a result of empirical observations coupled with parsimony aka "Occam's Razor".”
“It is closely related to the notion of parsimony which has been a dominant role in Russell's thought.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘parsimony’.
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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...
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Visuals
A list of words which yield surprising, beautiful, amusing, or otherwise noteworthy images here on Wordnik.
photochrom, fufluns, thank you, cool l..., postcard, picture postcard, cricket, physiological ill..., Gakuryū Ishii, ametropia, One Froggy Evening, rhodopsin, Santiago Calatrava and 624 more...
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Not in the Periodic Table
Words that sound like they might be the names of elements of the periodic table, but that aren't. Many of the words listed here were actually proposed as names for substances their creators thought...
tentorium, columbarium, nasturtium, deuterium, caladium, valerian, concordium, synangium, chorium, geranium, hymenium, pyrenium and 212 more...
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January 2012
bloviate, pastiche, apparat, facile, paroxysm, pique, bedfellow, pedigree, tutelage, protege, protégé, retroactive and 196 more...
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Mony Mony
Here she comes now sayin' Mony Mony...
alimony, parsimony, antimony, acrimony, ceremony, harmony, hegemony, lemony, matrimony, sanctimony, simony, testimony and 3 more...
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Simon-pure
simon-pure, Paul Simon, simony, Simon Legree, parsimony, Binet-Simon scale, simple simon, Simone de Beauvoir, simon, Simon, simoniac, quasi-monochromatic and 16 more...
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SAT Words
Know these common SAT words
taciturn, docile, expedient, superfluous, eclectic, impromptu, dogmatic, invidious, rhetoric, tenacious, pretentious, parsimony and 14 more...
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Nouny
calumny, parsimony, gluttony, alimony, sanctimony, harmony, miscegeny, telephony, colony, antimony, larceny, mahogany and 26 more...
abraxaszugzwang if this were pronounced more like persimmon, I would like it. Mar 13, 2007