What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Niggardly vs Puny - What's the difference?

niggardly | puny | Related terms |

Niggardly is a related term of puny.


As adjectives the difference between niggardly and puny

is that niggardly is withholding for the sake of meanness; stingy, miserly while puny is of inferior size, strength or significance.

As an adverb niggardly

is in a parsimonious way; sparingly, stingily.

As a noun puny is

(obsolete) a new pupil at a school etc; a junior student.

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")

    puny

    English

    Noun

    (punies)
  • (obsolete) A new pupil at a school etc.; a junior student.
  • (obsolete) A younger person.
  • *, II.12:
    • a law that the eldest or first borne child shall succeed and inherit all: where nothing at all is reserved for Punies , but obedience.
  • (obsolete) A beginner, a novice.
    • (Fuller)
  • (archaic) An inferior person; a subordinate.

    • Adjective

    (er)
  • Of inferior size, strength or significance.
  • * Shakespeare
    • A puny subject strikes at thy great glory.
  • * Keble
    • Breezes laugh to scorn our puny speed.

    Synonyms

    * See also

    See also

    * punny – relating to a pun ----