skimpy

/ˈskɪmpi/

skimpy adjective: small or inadequate; not generous; diminutive.

Adjective

skimpy (comparative skimpier, superlative skimpiest)

Small or inadequate; not generous; diminutive.
- They served a pretty skimpy portion of ice cream as the free birthday dessert.
- He was of a pallid complexion, hair of a kind of dirty fairness, greyish eyes, and a skimpy, immature moustache under his peaked indeterminate nose.1896, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, The Wheels of Chance: A Holiday Adventure, London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent and Co.; New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Co., →OCLC
Very small, light, or revealing.
- Have you ever seen such a skimpy bikini?
- The long, skimpy soutane accentuated the tallness of his stature; he carried his powerful torso thrown forward; […]1904 January 29 – October 7, Joseph Conrad, Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard, London; New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers […], published 1904, →OCLC
Wearing skimpy clothing; scantily clad.

skimpy (plural skimpies)

(Australia, Western) A barmaid who wears little clothing.
- It's a curious mix: weatherworn miners, fresh faced bankers, and a couple of g-stringed skimpies.2000, Australian Journal of Mining, page 2
- For an anthropological experience, the front bar at the Exchange Hotel provides a window into some locals′ lives at all hours of the day, with skimpies, TV sports and mine workers chain-drinking.2007, Terry Carter, Lara Dunston, Perth & Western Australia, Lonely Planet, page 159

short, revealing, low: അല്പമാത്രമായ, മുഴുവൻമറയ്ക്കാത്ത, ശരീരഭാഗം വെളിക്കു കാട്ടുന്ന, അവയവങ്ങൾ മറയ്ക്കാത്ത, അവയവങ്ങൾ പുറത്തുകാട്ടുന്ന, കഷ്ടിച്ചെത്തുന്ന
scanty, meagre, sketchy: ചുരുക്കമായ, സ്തോക, അല്പമായ, ദരിദ്രമായ, അല്പമാത്രമായ, ഉപരിതലസ്പർശിയായ

You was a po' skimpy little boy no mo' than about fo'teen when you lef' home to come No'th; but I knowed you the minute I sot eyes on you.1909, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “Thimble, Thimble”, in Options:
[T]he driver was delayed there by a skimpy little woman with a thin piping voice practised in the art of defeating escape from it by a ceaseless stream of gabble.1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 26:
Desert Hearts is one of the high spots in the skimpy history of gay movies — and probably the high spot in the even more barren history of lesbian films.1986 April 19, Michael Bronski, “Two Views on Desert Hearts: Sexy? or simply Slow?”, in Gay Community News, page 9:
Food might be a tad skimpy in the portions.1992, Toni Morrison, Jazz, Vintage (2016), page 72:

From skimp + -y.

What does skimpy mean?: Skimpy means small or inadequate; not generous; diminutive.
What is skimpy in Malayalam?: Skimpy in Malayalam is അല്പമാത്രമായ, മുഴുവൻമറയ്ക്കാത്ത, ശരീരഭാഗം വെളിക്കു കാട്ടുന്ന. See Skimpy meaning in Malayalam.
How do you use skimpy in a sentence?: You was a po' skimpy little boy no mo' than about fo'teen when you lef' home to come No'th; but I knowed you the minute I sot eyes on you.
What part of speech is skimpy?: Skimpy can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce skimpy?: Skimpy is pronounced /ˈskɪmpi/.

Adapted from Wiktionary: skimpy (page history and authors); skimpy (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). 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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-skimpy.ogg, en-au-skimpy.ogg.

Cite this entry: “skimpy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/skimpy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.