Skip to content
GREMockTests
GRE vocabulary

parsimonious

adjectiveHigh-frequency wordMore P words

extremely unwilling to spend money or use resources

Word origin: From Latin parsimonia, thrift, from parcere, to spare.

Start a free GRE mock test 39 minutes · free · instant score
In a sentence

Parsimonious in a sentence

Here are example sentences showing parsimonious in a sentence.

His parsimonious habits meant the office still used decade-old computers.

The committee was so parsimonious with funding that even essential equipment went unreplaced for years.

Antonyms

Quick GRE check

Question 1 of 3

3 questions, about 2 minutes. How would you do on the real test?

Verbal · Text Completion

Although the senator's memoir was marketed as a frank reckoning with his failures, reviewers found it relentlessly blank, dwelling on grievances and recasting every setback as the fault of his adversaries.

Select the word that best completes the sentence.

Usage & nuance

Using “parsimonious” well

Parsimonious usually carries a negative edge, implying stinginess, though in science a parsimonious explanation is praised for using the fewest assumptions.

Common questions

Questions about “parsimonious”

Parsimonious (adjective) means extremely unwilling to spend money or use resources
Here is parsimonious used in an example sentence: "His parsimonious habits meant the office still used decade-old computers." Another example: "The committee was so parsimonious with funding that even essential equipment went unreplaced for years."
Common synonyms for parsimonious include stingy, miserly, frugal, penurious.
Antonyms of parsimonious include generous, lavish, prodigal.
Pair parsimonious with stingy, miserly, frugal, and penurious in Sentence Equivalence, opposing generous, lavish, and prodigal.
Yes. Parsimonious is a high-frequency GRE word, so it is worth prioritising as you build your vocabulary.

See these words the way the GRE tests them.

Take the free 39-minute GRE Quick Mock Test and meet words like this inside real Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence questions, with a worked solution for every answer.