Cheapskatecan be used for both people and actions. In reference to a person, it means someone who doesn’t like spending money, who is very stingy, and who wants to save as much money as possible. When used as an adjective to describe actions, cheapskate refers to great unwillingness to spend money. It has a negative connotation.
Example sentences
Stop being a cheapskate! You can afford to buy a new pair of shoes every couple of years.
Even though he makes good money, my best friend is such acheapskate that he buys underwear from a thrift store.
You can’t expect him to change his cheapskateways; that's how he was raised.
Lucy'scheapskatelifestyle drove her husband crazy.
A "miser" is similar to a cheapskate, but it is much stronger and has an even more negative, disapproving meaning. It often refers to a selfish old man. In English literature, a classic example is Ebenezer Scrooge from the Charles Dickens novel A Christmas Carol. "Thrifty" is another adjective that is similar to cheapskate, but it generally has a positive connotation and means that someone is good at avoiding spending money. Sometimes one person might think someone is being a cheapskate while someone else would call the same person thrifty.
Origin
Cheapskate is derived from cheap + skate and first appeared in 1895–1900.
