Money Matters Flashcards
(18 cards)
Thrifty
If you are thrifty you spend money wisely. Be careful not to confuse thrifty with spendthrift, which is below.
spend money in thrift stores is to spend money wisely
He was economical, spending his money thriftily and on items considered essential.
Spendthrift
This word is the opposite of thrifty. If you are a spendthrift, you buy as though consumerism were going out of style. This one is perhaps easy to remember; it does, after all, have the word ‘spend’ in it.
someone who spends money prodigally
spend in the word itself => so high
Weekly trips to Vegas and five-star restaurants on Tuesday evenings, Megan was a spendthrift whose prodigality would inevitably catch up with her.
Parsimonious
A synonym with miserly and stingy. Parsimonious is GRE-speak for extremely frugal. Like miserly, this word has a negative connotation.
Extremely unwilling to spend money or use resources — often to the point of stinginess or miserliness.
a person who is not willing to spend money from his purse
Even with millions in his bank account, Fred was so parsimonious that he followed a diet consisting of nothing more than bread and canned soup.
🔹 The parsimonious old man refused to turn on the heater, even in the dead of winter.
🔹 The company’s parsimonious budget left employees without basic supplies.
🔹 Though he was wealthy, his parsimonious habits bordered on absurdity
Sybarite
This is a person who indulges in luxury. And though the word doesn’t directly relate to wealth, most of the times a sybarite has to be wealthy
sy+bar+rite a lover of luxury finds going to the bar
Despite the fact that he’d maxed out fifteen credit cards, Max was still a sybarite at heart: when the feds found him, he was at a $1,000 an hour spa in Manhattan, getting a facial.
Impecunious
The word pecuniary means relating to money. Impecunious, on the other hand, means not having any money. Pecunious, now mainly obsolete, means—as you can probably guess—wealthy.
Nepali people are 1 step away from impecunious
In extremely trying times, even the moderately wealthy, after a few turns of ill-fortune, can become impecunious.
Penurious
This is a** synonym for impecunious.** Penurious also can be a synonym for miserly, so this word can be a little tricky. Whenever you have a word with two meanings, even if those meanings are closely related, make sure to come up with example sentences for both, so you don’t forget one of the definitions. (I’ve done so below).
a person who asks always for UR PEN and is unwilling to spend on it
*Truly penurious, Mary had nothing more than a jar full of pennies.
Sarah chose to be penurious and drive a beat-up VW, though with her wealth she could have easily afforded an Italian sports car.
*
Insolvent
If you are insolvent you can’t pay your bills. Oftentimes people use the term bankrupt. If you are solvent, on the other hand, you have paid off all your debts.
With credit card bills skyrocketing, surprisingly few are truly solvent.
Affluent
To be affluent is to be wealthy. This word usually describes countries, neighborhoods, or groups of people.
fluent money
The center of the city had sadly become a pit of penury, while, only five miles away, multi-million dollar homes spoke of affluence.
Profligate
This word means spending recklessly almost to the point of immorality. This word often pops up in politics, when some charge that government is spending wastefully. Profligate is also a person known for his or her profligacy.
Most lottery winners go from being conservative, frugal types to outright profligates who blow
millions on fast cars, lavish homes, and giant yachts.
Prodigal
The provenance of this word—like many GRE words—is the Bible. One of Jesus’ most famous parables, the story is of a* young man who squanders his father’s wealth and returns home destitute. His father forgives him, but to posterity he will forever be remembered as the prodigal son. To be prodigal is** to squander or waste wealth*** (it doesn’t necessarily have to be familial wealth). This word should not be
confused with prodigious, which means vast or immense.
Successful professional athletes who do not fall prey to prodigality seem to be the exception—most live decadent lives.
Avarice
One of the seven deadly sins, avarice means greed. Of note, this word doesn’t necessarily mean greed for food but usually pertains to possessions or wealth.
The Spanish conquistadors were known for their avarice, plundering Incan land and stealing Incan gold.
Cupidity
This word is similar to avarice in that it means greedy. But the word is even more relevant to this post in that it means greed for money.
Some people that amassing as much wealth as possible is the meaning to life—yet they often realize that cupidity brings anything but happiness.
Defray
Is to help pay the cost of, either in part of full. Often times when students go off to college, they hope that tuition (which is always becoming steeper these days) will be defrayed by any of a number of means: scholarships, parents, burgeoning stock portfolio, or even generous relatives.
In order for Sean to attend the prestigious college his magnanimous uncle helped defray the excessive tuition with a monthly infusion of cash.
Stipend
Is a regular allowance, usually for a student (yes, it seems that many of these money matters are related to students!). Of course stipends aren’t just limited to students; governments provide stipends to a number of different people.
He was hoping for a monthly allowance loan from the government, but after no such stipend was forthcoming he realized he would have to seek other means of defraying his college tuition.
Pittance
A small amount of money, pittance carries with it a negative connotation: a pittance is inadequate and will do little to take care of one’s costs.
Vinny’s uncle beamed smugly about how he’d offered his nephew fifty dollars for his Harvard tuition; even twice the amount would have been a mere pittance.
Dupe
This word means to trick or swindle. This word can function as a verb or as a noun. A dupe is a person who is easily swindled.
The charlatan mistook the crowd for a bunch of dupes, but the crowd was quickly on to him and
decried his bald-faced attempt to bilk them.
Mulct
This strange looking word also means to swindle or defraud someone. (Though the swindling doesn’t always have to relate to money.) Mulct can also mean to fine someone.
The so-called magical diet cure simply ended up mulcting Maria out of hundreds of dollars, but not hundreds of pounds.
Fleece
Don’t feel sheepish if you thought this word only pertained to the coat of an ovine. As a verb fleece means to swindle or dupe.
mary had a little lamb
The Internet is filled with get-rich-quick schemes that intend only to fleece the Pollyannaish and
unsuspecting.
