thrift
/ˈθɹɪft/
thrift noun: the characteristic of using a minimum of something (especially money).
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Noun
thrift (countable and uncountable, plural thrifts)
- The characteristic of using a minimum of something (especially money).
- His thrift can be seen in how little the trashman takes from his house.
- The rest, […] willing to fall to thrift , as I have seene many souldiers after the service to prove very good husbands1596 (date written; published 1633), Edmund Spenser, A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande […], Dublin: […] Societie of Stationers, […], →OCLC; republished as A View of the State of Ireland […]...
- Synonyms:
- frugality
- A savings bank.
- Usually, home mortgages are obtained from thrifts.
- Any of various plants of the genus Armeria, particularly Armeria maritima.
- Success and advance in the acquisition of property; increase of worldly goods; gain; prosperity; profit.
- Bassanio: […]And many Jasons come in quest of her.
O my Antonio, had I but the means
To hold a rival place with one of them,
I have a mind presages me such thrift,
That I should questionless be fortunate!c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]... - Hamlet: No, let the candied tongue lick absurd pomp,
And crook the pregnant hinges of the knee
Where thrift may follow fawning.c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
- Bassanio: […]And many Jasons come in quest of her.
- Vigorous growth, as of a plant.
Verb
thrift (third-person singular simple present thrifts, present participle thrifting, simple past and past participle thrifted)
- To shop or browse at a thrift shop; to buy (something) at a thrift shop.
- They like to go thrifting on weekends.
- I thrifted these vintage coffee mugs.
Proper noun capitalized: Thrift
Thrift (plural Thrifts)
- A surname.
thrift meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada
thrift in Tamil
- characteristic of using a minimum of something
- சிக்கனம் cikkaṉam
thrift in Urdu
- فلاح, خوشحالی, منافع
thrift in Malayalam
- ചെലവൊതുക്കം, മിതവ്യയം, മിച്ചം
thrift in Kannada
- ಮಿತವ್ಯಯ, ಉಳಿತಾಯ
More languagesFewer languages
- thrift in Punjabi
- ਕਿਰਸ kiras
- thrift in Nepali
- थ्रिफ्ट, थ्रिफ्टिङ
- thrift in Persian
- صرفهجویی sarfe-juyi
Examples of thrift in a sentence
- Bree must have had the thrift to remove a modest competency of the gold […]1892, Ambrose Bierce, Tales of Soldiers and Civilians: Holy Terror:
- Thrift implies careful spending, maximum earning, and no wasting.1919 April, Flora Rose, Martha Van Rensselaer, “Lesson 123: A program of thrift for New York State”, in The Cornell Reading Course for the...
- She probably thrifted the T-shirt and shorts.2007, James Bernard Frost, World Leader Pretend, page 152:
Synonyms of thrift
Antonyms
Forms of thrift
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | thrifts |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | thrifts |
| present participle | thrifting |
| past participle | thrifted |
| past | thrifted |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Thrifts |
Origin of thrift
From Middle English thrift, thryfte, þrift, from Old Norse þrift (“thriving condition, prosperity”). Equivalent to thrive + -t.
Words formed from thrift
Phrases with thrift
Words that rhyme with thrift
Questions about thrift
- What does thrift mean?
- Thrift means the characteristic of using a minimum of something (especially money).
- What is thrift in Tamil?
- Thrift in Tamil is சிக்கனம் (cikkaṉam). See Thrift meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use thrift in a sentence?
- Bree must have had the thrift to remove a modest competency of the gold […]
- What part of speech is thrift?
- Thrift can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce thrift?
- Thrift is pronounced /ˈθɹɪft/.
- What is the plural of thrift?
- The plural of thrift is thrifts.
Words near thrift in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: thrift (page history and authors); Thrift (page history and authors); thrift (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); thrift (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); thrift (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਕਿਰਸ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); thrift (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model 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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-thrift.wav.
Cite this entry: “thrift.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/thrift. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.