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Misery vs Niggardly - What's the difference?

misery | niggardly |

As a noun misery

is great unhappiness; extreme pain of body or mind; wretchedness; distress; woe.

As an adjective niggardly is

withholding for the sake of meanness; stingy, miserly.

As an adverb niggardly is

in a parsimonious way; sparingly, stingily.

misery

English

Noun

(miseries)
  • Great unhappiness; extreme pain of body or mind; wretchedness; distress; woe.
    • Ever since his wife left him you can see the misery on his face .
  • Cause of misery; calamity; misfortune.
  • (Extreme) poverty.
  • Greed; avarice.

    • Synonyms

    * see

    Derived terms

    * put out of one's misery

    Related terms

    * commiserate * miser * miserable

    niggardly

    English

    (Controversies about the word "niggardly")

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Withholding for the sake of meanness; stingy, miserly.
  • * Bishop Hall
    • Where the owner of the house will be bountiful, it is not for the steward to be niggardly .
  • * 1919 ,
    • They were not niggardly , these tramps, and he who had money did not hesitate to share it among the rest.
  • * 1958 , , The Affluent Society (1998 edition), ISBN 9780395925003, p. 186:
    • This manifests itself in an implacable tendency to provide an opulent supply of some things and a niggardly yield of others.

    Synonyms

    * miserly, stingy. * See also

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • In a parsimonious way; sparingly, stingily.
  • *, New York 2001, p.105:
    • because many families are compelled to live niggardly , exhaust and undone by great dowers, none shall be given at all, or very little […].

    Usage notes

    * This term may cause offence as it is easily misinterpreted to be an adverbial form of the racial epithet (nigger). Racist Language, Real and Imagined , Steven Pinker. February 2, 1999. The New York Times (editorial). The two words are etymologically unrelated.

    References

    See also

    * (Controversies about the word "niggardly")