thrift
noun
ˈthrift 
1
: careful management especially of money
2
: a savings bank or savings and loan association
called also thrift institution
3
: healthy and vigorous growth
4
chiefly Scotland : gainful occupation
5
: any of a genus (Armeria) of low-growing perennial evergreen herbs of the plumbago family
especially : a tufted herb (A. maritima) with pink or white flower heads
Synonyms
- economy
- frugality
- husbandry
- parsimony
- penny-pinching
- providence
- scrimping
- skimping
See all Synonyms & Antonyms 
Example Sentences
Through hard work and thrift they sent all of their children to college. through hard work and thrift our father was able to raise the money to put all four of us through college
Recent Examples on the Web Hunt for them at your local thrift store or garage sale. 
Andrea Crowley, Better Homes & Gardens, 14 Sep. 2022 In a tiny parking lot on the East Side, Mari Morales is giving out boxes of mayonnaise, tuna and soda under a yellow umbrella outside her brother’s thrift store. Elena Bruess, San Antonio Express-News, 14 Sep. 2022 My idea of a fun shopping trip is taking a spin through the $10 thrift-store rack. Julia Carpenter, WSJ, 10 Sep. 2022 His Lee is a wounded Tiger Beat pinup, a Kentucky boy in pan-gender thrift-store couture who lives with a desperate all-id intensity that often subsumes Russell's more tentative character. Leah Greenblatt, EW.com, 7 Sep. 2022 Johnson is also accused separately with two other men in the armed holdup of a thrift store. Cory Shaffer, cleveland, 29 Aug. 2022 It’s usually easy to find something unique in a thrift store. Erik S. Hanley, Journal Sentinel, 26 Aug. 2022 ThredUp, an online thrift store, lets users sell and buy secondhand apparel. Megan Cerullo, CBS News, 23 Aug. 2022 Shopping in a conventional thrift store can be like sifting for gold. Morgan Sung, NBC News, 3 Aug. 2022 See More
Andrea Crowley, Better Homes & Gardens, 14 Sep. 2022 In a tiny parking lot on the East Side, Mari Morales is giving out boxes of mayonnaise, tuna and soda under a yellow umbrella outside her brother’s thrift store. Elena Bruess, San Antonio Express-News, 14 Sep. 2022 My idea of a fun shopping trip is taking a spin through the $10 thrift-store rack. Julia Carpenter, WSJ, 10 Sep. 2022 His Lee is a wounded Tiger Beat pinup, a Kentucky boy in pan-gender thrift-store couture who lives with a desperate all-id intensity that often subsumes Russell's more tentative character. Leah Greenblatt, EW.com, 7 Sep. 2022 Johnson is also accused separately with two other men in the armed holdup of a thrift store. Cory Shaffer, cleveland, 29 Aug. 2022 It’s usually easy to find something unique in a thrift store. Erik S. Hanley, Journal Sentinel, 26 Aug. 2022 ThredUp, an online thrift store, lets users sell and buy secondhand apparel. Megan Cerullo, CBS News, 23 Aug. 2022 Shopping in a conventional thrift store can be like sifting for gold. Morgan Sung, NBC News, 3 Aug. 2022 See More Word History
Etymology
Middle English, from Old Norse, prosperity, from thrīfask to thrive
First Known Use
13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 3
Phrases Containing thrift
Kids Definition
thrift
noun
ˈthrift
: careful management especially of money
Legal Definition
thrift
noun
: an institution that promotes saving and provides mortgages
especially : savings and loan association
called also thrift institution
thrift
noun
as in saving
careful management of material resources through hard work and thrift our father was able to raise the money to put all four of us through college Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
- saving
- frugality
- economy
- scrimping
- skimping
- parsimony
- providence
- temperance
- prudence
- husbandry
- penny-pinching
- miserliness
- conservation
- stinginess
- niggardliness
- moderation
- belt-tightening
- retrenchment
- restraint
- forehandedness
- austerity
- discretion
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- wastefulness
- improvidence
- extravagance
- prodigality
- lavishness
- squandering
- diseconomy