MEANING
To spend or use as little as possible, often through hardship.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- scrimp and save
- scrimp on expenses
On the page
They scrimped for years to buy the cottage.
Word forms
- Base
- scrimp
- Past tense
- scrimped
- Past participle
- scrimped
- Present participle
- scrimping
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- scrimp
- Present continuous
- am/is/are scrimping
- Present perfect
- have/has scrimped
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been scrimping
- Past
- scrimped
- Past continuous
- was/were scrimping
- Past perfect
- had scrimped
- Past perfect continuous
- had been scrimping
- Future
- will scrimp
- Future continuous
- will be scrimping
- Future perfect
- will have scrimped
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been scrimping
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Primary category: literary / elevated general. Forms: scrimp; scrimps; scrimped; scrimped; scrimping Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: description, character, dialogue. Commonness: moderately common. Third-person singular: scrimps.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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