Stingy Meaning: Definition, Examples and How to Use It

Call someone stingy and you are not just describing their spending — you are criticising it. The word means unwilling to give or spend money, and it always carries a note of disapproval. A stingy person is not careful with money; they are tight-fisted with it, holding on to what they have when generosity would cost them almost nothing.

That critical edge is what makes the word useful, and what makes it risky. Used well, it captures a very specific human failing in a single syllable. Used carelessly, it insults someone who is simply being careful. The difference between stingy and careful is the whole story of the word.

What the Dictionaries Say

Cambridge labels stingy as an informal adjective and gives the pronunciation /ˈstɪn·dʒi/ for both British and American English, with the comparative stingier and the superlative stingiest. Its examples show the two patterns learners need most: “My father’s very stingy with his money” and “stingy portions of food.”

Merriam-Webster gives two senses. The first is “not generous or liberal: sparing or scant in using, giving, or spending” — a stingy old miser, stingy with the salt, stingy employee benefits. The second is “meanly scanty or small”: a stingy portion is one that is too small, given grudgingly. Collins COBUILD is blunter still: “If you describe someone as stingy, you are criticizing them for being unwilling to spend money” — and it marks the word as informal and as a term of disapproval, with generous as its antonym.

Merriam-Webster dates the first known use of stingy in its modern sense to 1659. Dictionary.com traces it to the 1650s, perhaps from a dialect word stinge related to sting — the idea being that a stingy person gives as though every penny stung to part with. You can read the full entry in the Cambridge Dictionary.

The Two Senses: People and Amounts

Stingy describes people first and amounts second, and the two uses shade into each other.

Stingy people

Applied to a person, stingy means reluctant to give, share, or spend. “Don’t be so stingy — it’s for charity” is Cambridge’s example, and it shows the word doing its usual work: a mild scolding, usually among friends or family, aimed at someone who could easily afford to give more. The pattern is almost always stingy with something: stingy with money, stingy with praise, stingy with time. The word extends naturally beyond cash — a person can be stingy with compliments, stingy with information, stingy with their attention.

Stingy amounts

Applied to a thing, stingy means meagre, scanty, less than expected: “a stingy salary,” “stingy portions,” “a stingy tip.” Here the criticism lands on the amount rather than the person, but the implication is the same — somebody gave less than they should have. A stingy pay rise is not just a small one; it is one that feels ungenerous. A stingy serving is not just a small serving; it is one that leaves you hungry.

Stingy vs Frugal, Thrifty, and Mean

English has a whole family of words for careful spending, and the dictionaries draw careful lines between them. Choosing the wrong one changes the judgement completely.

• Stingy is always critical. It says the person should have given more and chose not to. Dictionary.com’s synonym note puts it plainly: “Stingy, the most general of these terms, means unwilling to share, give, or spend possessions or money.”
• Frugal and thrifty are neutral or approving. A frugal person spends carefully and avoids waste; a thrifty person manages money well. Both are virtues. Nobody is ever praised for being stingy.
• Mean, in its British sense of tight-fisted, is a near-synonym of stingy and just as critical: “He’s mean with his money.” In American English, “mean” more often describes unkindness, so it is a less reliable substitute.
• Miserly is stronger than stingy. A miser hoards wealth and spends as little as possible, often at the cost of their own comfort; stingy describes the behaviour, miserly suggests a way of life.
• Parsimonious is the formal, bookish cousin — the word a thesaurus reaches for when stingy sounds too blunt.

The test is simple: if the careful spending is sensible, say frugal or thrifty. If it feels ungenerous, say stingy. For the opposite quality, see our article on generous meaning — Cambridge gives ungenerous as the direct opposite of generous, and stingy is the informal word for the same failing.

How to Pronounce Stingy (UK and US)

Stingy is pronounced identically in British and American English: /ˈstɪndʒi/ — “STIN-jee,” with the stress on the first syllable.

Two points matter. First, the g is soft, like the g in “ginger” or “giant” — “STIN-jee,” not “STIN-gee” with a hard g. Second, the vowel is the short i of “tin” and “sting,” which is why the word is spelled stingy and not “stinge-y.”

Watch out for a trap: there is a second, unrelated word spelled stingy, pronounced /ˈstɪŋi/ — “STING-ee,” with a hard g — meaning “having a sting” or “capable of stinging,” as in a stingy nettle. It is rare, and Dictionary.com lists it as a separate entry. In everyday English, “stingy” with the soft g is the word you will meet, and the hard-g sense is best left alone.

Spelling: Stingier, Stingiest, Stingily, Stinginess

Stingy follows the ordinary rule for adjectives ending in -y: change the y to i before adding a suffix.

• Comparative: stingier — “He is stingier than his brother.”
• Superlative: stingiest — “She is the stingiest person I know.”
• Adverb: stingily — “He tipped stingily.”
• Noun: stinginess — “He has a reputation for stinginess.”

The common misspelling is “stingey,” with an e instead of a y. No dictionary records “stingey” as a correct form. Remember the pattern: stingy ends in y, and the y becomes i — never e — when a suffix is added.

Examples in Real Contexts

• Don’t be so stingy — it’s for charity. (Cambridge’s example)
• My father’s very stingy with his money. (Cambridge’s example)
• The restaurant served stingy portions of food and charged a fortune for them.
• He is stingy with his praise; a compliment from him is a rare event.
• After years of stingy pay rises, the staff finally went on strike.
• Scrooge’s well-known stinginess is the centre of the whole story.
• She gave a stingy tip and left the waiter shaking his head.
• The company is stingy with holiday leave compared with its competitors.

Correct vs Incorrect

Correct	Incorrect	Why
He is stingy with his money.	He is stingy about his money.	The standard pattern is “stingy with” something, not “stingy about.”
She is stingier than her sister.	She is more stingy than her sister.	For short adjectives, use the -er form: stingier, not “more stingy.”
The portions were stingy.	The portions were stingily.	“Stingy” is the adjective; “stingily” is the adverb and cannot follow “were.”
His stinginess annoyed everyone.	His stingyness annoyed everyone.	The noun is “stinginess” — the y changes to i before -ness.
Don’t be stingy.	Don’t be stingey.	“Stingey” is not a word; the correct spelling is stingy.

Common Mistakes

• Spelling it “stingey”: The word ends in -gy, not -gey. The y changes to i in stingier, stingiest, stingily, and stinginess — it never becomes e.
• Pronouncing it with a hard g: “STIN-gee” is wrong. The g is soft — “STIN-jee” — like the g in “ginger.” The hard-g pronunciation belongs to the rare, separate word meaning “having a sting.”
• Using it as praise for saving money: Stingy is always a criticism. If you mean careful and sensible, the word is frugal or thrifty. Calling a careful saver “stingy” accuses them of meanness.
• Forgetting the “with”: The natural pattern is “stingy with” — stingy with money, with time, with praise. “Stingy about” and “stingy of” are not standard.
• Using it in formal writing: Cambridge labels stingy as informal. In a formal report, “ungenerous” or “parsimonious” fits better; stingy belongs in conversation, fiction, and informal writing.

FAQs

Is “stingy” a rude word?

It is informal and critical rather than rude. It is a judgement, not a swear word, and it is common in everyday speech — “Don’t be stingy” is something friends say to each other. But because it accuses someone of meanness, it can sting, so use it about a person’s behaviour rather than as a label for the person.

What is the opposite of stingy?

Generous is the direct opposite: a generous person gives freely and willingly. Open-handed and liberal (in the sense of giving freely) are close alternatives. The noun opposite is generosity.

What is the difference between stingy and frugal?

Frugal means careful with money and avoiding waste — a sensible, often admirable quality. Stingy means unwilling to spend even when spending is reasonable — a fault. A frugal person buys what they need at a good price; a stingy person refuses to buy what they need at all.

Is “stingy” the same in British and American English?

Yes. The meaning, spelling, and pronunciation — /ˈstɪndʒi/ — are the same on both sides of the Atlantic. The only difference is the company it keeps: in British English, mean is a common synonym for tight-fisted, while in American English mean more often means unkind.

Can stingy describe a thing, or only a person?

Both. People are stingy with money, time, or praise; things can be stingy too — a stingy portion, a stingy salary, a stingy tip. In both cases the word means less than is fair or expected.

The Takeaway

Stingy is an informal adjective with a sharp edge: it calls someone unwilling to give or spend, and it always disapproves. It is pronounced “STIN-jee” with a soft g, spelled with a y that becomes i in stingier, stingiest, stingily, and stinginess. Keep it apart from frugal and thrifty, which praise careful spending, and pair it with generous when you want the opposite. Used with that care, it says in one word what a whole sentence would struggle to convey.