skimpflation
skimpflation noun: the practice of reducing the quality of products while continuing to market them at the same price.
Noun
skimpflation (uncountable)
- The practice of reducing the quality of products while continuing to market them at the same price.
- We propose a new word to describe this stealth-ninja kind of inflation: skimpflation. It's when, instead of simply raising prices, companies skimp on the goods and services they provide.2021 October 26, Greg Rosalsky, “Meet skimpflation: A reason inflation is worse than the government says it is”, in Planet Money
- Some economists have pegged a new word to this phenomenon where, rather than raise prices, companies cut services previously provided: skimpflation. Skimpflation could mean reduced staff, thus longer lines or phone hold times.2022 March 17, Sally French, “One of the most basic hotel amenities is disappearing”, in Honolulu Star-Advertiser
- Synonyms:
- quality fade
Examples of skimpflation in a sentence
- No wonder many are opting for a third path: “skimpflation”.2022 April 30, “Netflix et al.: the great cancellation”, in The Week, Bath, page 41:
- Sadly it's a sign of the times, and consumers will have to get used to this practice of skimpflation, where brands reduce the value of their services to remain profitable.2022 September 2, Nicholas Dawson, quoting David Beard, “Blow for Sainsbury's Bank customers with huge Nectar points change - 'really...
- How To Be A Savvy Shopper Amidst Skimpflation […] And while it might require a little more time and energy in the aisles, there are ways to prevent your diet from suffering amidst inflation.2022 November 9, “How Skimpflation May Be Affecting Your Diet”, in Henry Ford Health:
- A similar thing happens for shrinkflation or skimpflation.2025 June, Els Breugelmans, Katrijn Gielens, “Navigating retail volatility”, in Journal of Retailing, volume 101, number 2, →DOI, page 156:
Synonyms of skimpflation
Origin of skimpflation
Blend of skimp + inflation.
Questions about skimpflation
- What does skimpflation mean?
- Skimpflation means the practice of reducing the quality of products while continuing to market them at the same price.
- How do you use skimpflation in a sentence?
- No wonder many are opting for a third path: “skimpflation”.
- What part of speech is skimpflation?
- Skimpflation is a noun.
Words near skimpflation in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: skimpflation (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “skimpflation.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/skimpflation. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.