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3 results for: Economies

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source
e·con·o·my    Audio Help   [i-kon-uh-mee] Pronunciation Key noun, plural -mies, adjective, adverb
–noun
1.thrifty management; frugality in the expenditure or consumption of money, materials, etc.
2.an act or means of thrifty saving; a saving: He achieved a small economy by walking to work instead of taking a bus.
3.the management of the resources of a community, country, etc., esp. with a view to its productivity.
4.the prosperity or earnings of a place: Further inflation would endanger the national economy seriously.
5.the disposition or regulation of the parts or functions of any organic whole; an organized system or method.
6.the efficient, sparing, or concise use of something: an economy of effort; an economy of movement.
7.economy class.
8.Theology.
a.the divine plan for humanity, from creation through redemption to final beatitude.
b.the method of divine administration, as at a particular time or for a particular race.
9.Obsolete. the management of household affairs.
–adjective
10.intended to save money: to reduce the staff in an economy move.
11.costing less to make, buy, or operate: an economy car.
12.of or pertaining to economy class: the economy fare to San Francisco.
–adverb
13.in economy-class accommodations, or by economy-class conveyance: to travel economy.
[Origin: 1520–30; (< MF economie) < L oeconomia < Gk oikonomíā household management, equiv. to oǐko(s) house + -nomia -nomy]

—Synonyms 1. thriftiness, thrift, saving.
—Antonyms 1. lavishness, extravagance, wastefulness.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Economies

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source
e·con·o·my    Audio Help   (ĭ-kŏn'ə-mē)  Pronunciation Key 
n.   pl. e·con·o·mies
    1. Careful, thrifty management of resources, such as money, materials, or labor: learned to practice economy in making out the household budget.
    2. An example or result of such management; a saving.
    3. The system or range of economic activity in a country, region, or community: Effects of inflation were felt at every level of the economy.
    4. A specific type of economic system: an industrial economy; a planned economy.
    1. The system or range of economic activity in a country, region, or community: Effects of inflation were felt at every level of the economy.
    2. A specific type of economic system: an industrial economy; a planned economy.
  3. An orderly, functional arrangement of parts; an organized system: "the sense that there is a moral economy in the world, that good is rewarded and evil is punished" (George F. Will).
  4. Efficient, sparing, or conservative use: wrote with an economy of language.
  5. The least expensive class of accommodations, especially on an airplane.
  6. Theology The method of God's government of and activity within the world.

adj.   Economical or inexpensive to buy or use: an economy car; an economy motel.


[Middle English yconomye, management of a household, from Latin oeconomia, from Greek oikonomiā, from oikonomos, manager of a household : oikos, house; see weik-1 in Indo-European roots + nemein, to allot, manage; see nem- in Indo-European roots.]

Word History: Managing an economy has at least an etymological justification. The word economy can be traced back to the Greek word oikonomos, "one who manages a household," derived from oikos, "house," and nemein, "to manage." From oikonomos was derived oikonomiā, which had not only the sense "management of a household or family" but also senses such as "thrift," "direction," "administration," "arrangement," and "public revenue of a state." The first recorded sense of our word economy, found in a work possibly composed in 1440, is "the management of economic affairs," in this case, of a monastery. Economy is later recorded in other senses shared by oikonomiā in Greek, including "thrift" and "administration." What is probably our most frequently used current sense, "the economic system of a country or an area," seems not to have developed until the 19th or 20th century.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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