| / English Dictionary |
ECONOMY
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I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
An act of economizing; reduction in cost
Example:
there was a saving of 50 cents
Synonyms:
economy; saving
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("economy" is a kind of...):
action (something done (usually as opposed to something said))
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "economy"):
curtailment; downsizing; retrenchment (the reduction of expenditures in order to become financially stable)
economy of scale (the saving in cost of production that is due to mass production)
Derivation:
economic (concerned with worldly necessities of life (especially money))
economical (using the minimum of time or resources necessary for effectiveness)
economize (use cautiously and frugally)
economize (spend sparingly, avoid the waste of)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Frugality in the expenditure of money or resources
Example:
the Scots are famous for their economy
Synonyms:
economy; thriftiness
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("economy" is a kind of...):
frugality; frugalness (prudence in avoiding waste)
Derivation:
economical (avoiding waste)
economize (use cautiously and frugally)
economize (spend sparingly, avoid the waste of)
Sense 3
Meaning:
The efficient use of resources
Example:
economy of effort
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
Hypernyms ("economy" is a kind of...):
efficiency (skillfulness in avoiding wasted time and effort)
Derivation:
economic; economical (using the minimum of time or resources necessary for effectiveness)
economist (an expert in the science of economics)
economize (use cautiously and frugally)
economize (spend sparingly, avoid the waste of)
Sense 4
Meaning:
The system of production and distribution and consumption
Synonyms:
economic system; economy
Classified under:
Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects
Hypernyms ("economy" is a kind of...):
scheme; system (a group of independent but interrelated elements comprising a unified whole)
Meronyms (parts of "economy"):
sector (a social group that forms part of the society or the economy)
black economy (a hidden sector of the economy where private cash transactions go unreported)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "economy"):
industrialism (an economic system built on large industries rather than on agriculture or craftsmanship)
free enterprise; laissez-faire economy; market economy; private enterprise (an economy that relies chiefly on market forces to allocate goods and resources and to determine prices)
mixed economy (an economic system that combines private and state enterprises)
non-market economy (an economy that is not a market economy)
state capitalism (an economic system that is primarily capitalistic but there is some degree of government ownership of the means of production)
state socialism (an economic system in which the government owns most means of production but some degree of private capitalism is allowed)
Derivation:
economic (of or relating to the science of economics)
economic; economical (of or relating to an economy, the system of production and management of material wealth)
economist (an expert in the science of economics)
Context examples:
The way she manages this place; her punctuality, domestic knowledge, economy, and order; her cheerfulness, Copperfield!
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
India, a predominantly agricultural country, has some 60 per cent of its total sown area under rainfed farming, making scientific forecasts of rainfall patterns vital to the country’s economy.
(Cave stalagmites reveal India’s rainfall secrets, SciDev.Net)
The books were of the most varied kind—history, geography, politics, political economy, botany, geology, law—all relating to England and English life and customs and manners.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
The condition affects an individual’s quality of life and costs millions to the global economy, both directly in terms of healthcare costs and indirectly due to impact on the individual’s working life.
(Joint lubricating fluid plays key role in osteoarthritic pain, University of Cambridge)
By pooling resources and expertise, the Blueprint takes advantage of economies of scale, confronts challenges too large for any single institute or center, and develops research tools and infrastructure that serve the entire neuroscience community.
(Blueprint for Neuroscience, NCI Thesaurus)
In the 1800s, the buffalo were hunted nearly to extinction not only for their valuable hides but also because many U.S. generals, including President Ulysses S. Grant, believed that removing the buffalo would undermine the economies of many of the Native American tribes that depended on them for food and goods and make it easier to push them onto reservations.
(Northern Arapaho Tribe welcomes buffalo herd in Wyoming, United States, Wikinews)
In 2011, Sargassum populations started to explode in places it hadn’t been before, like the central Atlantic Ocean, and then it arrived in gargantuan gobs that suffocated shorelines and introduced a new nuisance for local environments and economies.
(Satellites Find Biggest Seaweed Bloom in the World, NASA)
I'm so fond of writing, I should go spinning on forever if motives of economy didn't stop me, for though I've used thin paper and written fine, I tremble to think of the stamps this long letter will need.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
YOUR sense of honour and honesty would have led you, I know, when aware of your situation, to attempt all the economy that would appear to you possible: and, perhaps, as long as your frugality retrenched only on your own comfort, you might have been suffered to practice it, but beyond that—and how little could the utmost of your single management do to stop the ruin which had begun before your marriage?
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
Catherine could have raved at the hand which had swept away what must have been beyond the value of all the rest, for the purposes of mere domestic economy; and would willingly have been spared the mortification of a walk through scenes so fallen, had the general allowed it; but if he had a vanity, it was in the arrangement of his offices; and as he was convinced that, to a mind like Miss Morland's, a view of the accommodations and comforts, by which the labours of her inferiors were softened, must always be gratifying, he should make no apology for leading her on.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
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