Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

Definition: Economical |
EconomicalAdjective1. Using the minimum of time or resources necessary for effectiveness; "an economic use of home heating oil"; "a modern economical heating system"; "an economical use of her time". 2. Of or relating to an economy, the system of production and management of material wealth; "economic growth"; "aspects of social, political, and economical life". 3. Avoiding waste; "an economical meal"; "an economical shopper"; "a frugal farmer"; "a frugal lunch"; "a sparing father and a spending son"; "sparing in their use of heat and light"; "stinting in bestowing gifts"; "thrifty because they remember the great Depression"; (`scotch' is used only informally). Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "economical" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1588. (references) |
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
| ECB | English | Economical cruising boost | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
Synonyms: EconomicalSynonyms: economic (adj), frugal (adj), scotch (adj), sparing (adj), stinting (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Economy | Verb: be economical; Adjective: practice economy; economize, save; retrench, cut back expenses, cut expenses; cut one's coat according to one's cloth, make both ends meet, keep within compass, meet one's expenses, pay one's way, pay as you go; husband; (lay by). |
Adjective: economical, frugal, careful, thrifty, saving, chary, spare, sparing; parsimonious;. | |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Usage | |
Clever | Most writers regard the truth as their most valuable possession, and therefore are economical in its use. (references; author: Mark Twain) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Economical Brown (1912) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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High Tech |
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Consumer Goods | |||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
![]() | Loading trucks with iron ore at the Albany mine, Hibbing, Minnesota. This mine formerly used railroad until trucks were found more economical; they can climb the steep grade in much shorter time. Credit: Library of Congress. | ![]() | Corn - the food of the nation Serve some way every meal - appetizing, nourishing, economical / / Lloyd Harrison ; Harrison-Landauer Inc. Baltimore. Credit: Library of Congress. |
![]() | Corn - the food of the nation Serve some way every meal - appetizing, nourishing, economical / / Lloyd Harrison ; Harrison-Landauer Inc. Baltimore. Credit: Library of Congress. | ||
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Date | Quotation |
Communist Manifesto | 1848 | Into their place stepped free competition, accompanied by a social and political constitution adapted to it, and by the economical and political sway of the bourgeois class. (reference) |
Treaty of Versailles | 1919 | Free zone of Haute-Savoie and the district of Gex: (a) The Federal Council makes the most express reservations to the interpretation to be given to the statement mentioned in the last paragraph of the above Article for insertion in the Treaty of Peace, which provides that ,,the stipulations of the Treaties of 1815 and other supplementary acts concerning the free zones of Haute-Savoie and the Gex district are no longer consistent with present conditions.,, The Federal Council would not wish that its acceptance of the above wording should lead to the conclusion that it would agree to the suppression of a system intended to give neighbouring territory the benefit of a special regime which is appropriate to the geographical and economical situation and which has been well tested. (reference) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Walden | Thoreau, Henry David | I desire to speak impartially on this point, and as one not interested in the success or failure of the present economical and social arrangements |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | In general, a Ronald McDonald House is available for families of seriously ill children and provides lodging at economical rates. (references) | |
The nature of rabies disease dictates that laboratory tests be standardized, rapid, sensitive, specific, economical, and reliable. (references) | ||
Pharmacologic Research --New compounds that are more effective, economical, and safe for the reduction of blood cholesterol are needed. (references) | ||
Business | China is pushing the development of high-efficiency, safe, economical, and convenient to use products. (references) | |
An economical way for foreign webshop operators will be to have the existing web pages translated into Japanese. (references) | ||
The import market in this sub sector has continued to fall mainly because of the political and economical uncertainty, inflation, diminishing purchasing power, low salaries and exorbitant government expenditures. (references) | ||
Children | Burkina Faso | Programs to aid persons with disabilities are limited, and their advocates report that such persons often face social and economical discrimination. (references) |
Economic History | Italy | The railroad provides an efficient and economical method of transportation. (references) |
Belgium | Except for its coal, which is no longer economical to exploit, Belgium has virtually no natural resources. (references) | |
Travel | Ireland | Ireland has a diverse range of accommodations from world class hotels to the more individualized and economical bed and breakfast (B&B) guesthouses. (references) |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | ELECTRICITY, n. The power that causes all natural phenomena not known to be caused by something else. It is the same thing as lightning, and its famous attempt to strike Dr. Franklin is one of the most picturesque incidents in that great and good man's career. The memory of Dr. Franklin is justly held in great reverence, particularly in France, where a waxen effigy of him was recently on exhibition, bearing the following touching account of his life and services to science: "Monsieur Franqulin, inventor of electricity. This illustrious savant, after having made several voyages around the world, died on the Sandwich Islands and was devoured by savages, of whom not a single fragment was ever recovered." Electricity seems destined to play a most important part in the arts and industries. The question of its economical application to some purposes is still unsettled, but experiment has already proved that it will propel a street car better than a gas jet and give more light than a horse. |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
John Quincy Adams | 1825-1829 | A report from the Postmaster General is likewise communicated, presenting in a highly satisfactory manner the result of a vigorous, efficient, and economical administration of that Department. |
James Buchanan | 1857-1861 | I forbear for the present from expressing an opinion as to the wisest and most economical mode in which the Government can lend its aid in accomplishing this great and necessary work. |
Lyndon B. Johnson | 1963-1969 | By combining the Department of Commerce with the Department of Labor and other related agencies, I think we can create a more economical, efficient, and streamlined instrument that will better serve a growing nation. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Economical" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 99.40% of the time. "Economical" is used about 500 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 99.4% | 497 | 12,096 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.6% | 3 | 202,518 |
| Total | 100.00% | 500 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "economical": be economical ♦ economical haul distance ♦ economical load ♦ economical rate of runoff ♦ economical rating ♦ economical use of fuel ♦ most economical range ♦ most economical route selection. Additional references. | |
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "economical": ultra-economical. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "economical"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Afrikaans | ekonomies (economic). (various references) | |
Albanian | ekonomik (economic). (various references) | |
Arabic | مقتصد (careful, chary, frugal, provident, saving, scant, spare, sparing, thrifty), إقتصادي (economic, frugal). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | пестелив (abstemious, canny, forehanded, frugal, husbandly, near, parsimonious, provident, saving, spare, sparing, thrifty), икономически (economic), икономичен (economic, economy, inexpensive, sparing, thrifty). (various references) | |
Catalan | econòmica. (various references) | |
Chinese | 经济 (Economic, Economics, Economies, Economy). (various references) | |
Czech | ekonomický (economic), spořivý (saving, spare, thrifty), hospodárný (frugal, thrifty), úsporný, šetrný (considerate, frugal, near, parsimonious, shabby, spare, sparing, thrifty). (various references) | |
Danish | oekonomisk transportafstand (economical haul distance), oekonomisk afstroemningsmaengde (economical rate of runoff), oekonomifart (economical speed), minimumskost rutning (automatic route selection, flexible route selection, least cost routing, MERS, most economical route selection, route optimisation, route optimization), minimumskost dirigering (automatic route selection, flexible route selection, least cost routing, MERS, most economical route selection, route optimisation, route optimization), forenklet laas til modgaaende sporskifte (economical facing point lock), flerformålstype (economical type, multi purpose type), økonomisk rækkevidde (most economical range), økonomisk kontakt (economical contact), økonomisk belastning (economical load, economical rating). (various references) | |
Dutch | economisch. (various references) | |
Esperanto | ekonomika. (various references) | |
Finnish | tarkka (accurate, careful, close, detailed, exact, keen, particular, precise, sharp, strict, sure), taloudellinen (economic, financial), säästäväinen (careful, chary, sparing, thrifty). (various references) | |
French | économique (economic), économe (economist). (various references) | |
Frisian | ekonomysk. (various references) | |
German | wirtschaftlich (careful, economic, economically, labor, labour, thriftily, thrifty), sparsam (canny, economically, frugal, fugal, parsimonious, parsimoniously, saving, spare, sparing, sparingly, thriftily, thrifty), haushälterisch (thriftily, thrifty), ökonomisch (economic, economically). (various references) | |
Greek | οικονομικόσ (economic, financial, fiscal, thrifty), οικονομολογικόσ (economic, financial). (various references) | |
Hawaiian | ekonomik. (various references) | |
Hebrew | חסכן (thrifty), חסכ י (chary, frugal, provident, sparing, thrifty). (various references) | |
Hungarian | takarékos (chary, close, frugal, parsimonious, self-denying, sparing, thrifty), gazdaságos (economic, thrifty). (various references) | |
Indonesian | ekonomis (economic), mengirit (saving), irit (saving), hemat (frugal, thrift), centet (shrunken, stunted), ceking (frugal, slender, wasted). (various references) | |
Italian | economo (bursar, manciple, sparing, thrifty), economico (cheap, economic, inexpensive, saving, thrifty), econòmico (thrifty), parsimonioso (parsimonious, saving, thrifty), che fa risparmiare. (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 経済的 (economic), お徳 , 徳" , 倹しい (thrifty), 割安 (comparatively cheap), 割り安 (comparatively cheap), エクリン腺 (a service station for cars that run on alternative fuels, eccrine gland, echo, echo back, eclair, ecocide, Ecole de Paris, ecological mark, ecology, econometrics, economic animal, economics, economist, economy, economy class, ecosystem, executive, executive class, existence, exit). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | おとく, つましい (thrifty), わりやす (comparatively cheap), エコノミカル , けいざいてき (economic), とくよう. (various references) | |
Korean | 경 (Economic, Economics, Economies, Economy). (various references) | |
Manx | tarmaynagh (economic, economist). (various references) | |
Papiamen | ekonómiko. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | economicalay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | econômico (chary, cheap, economic, forehanded, frugal, parsimonious, pay, provident, saving, sparing, thrifty). (various references) | |
Romanian | economic (cheap, cruising, economic, frugal, thrifty), econom (bursar, careful, managing, parsimonious, provident, saving, sparing, thrifty, treasurer), strângãtor (accumulative, acquisitive, collector, gatherer, parsimonious, provident, sparing, stretcher), spornic (abundant, active, advantageous, diligent, useful), socotit (reckoned, sober minded), pãstrãtor (keeper, looker, observant of, observer of, preserver, preserving, thrifty), chibzuit (balanced, canny, cautious, circumspect, deliberate, discreet, economic, judicious, measured, provident, providently, prudent, reflective, thought-out, thrifty, wary, wise), calculat (calculating, prudent), adunãtor (accumulative, collector, gatherer). (various references) | |
Russian | экономный;бережливый, экономный (economic, frugal, housewifely, husbandly, parsimonious, saving, thrifty), экономичный, бережливый (abstemious, frugal, husbandly, parsimonious, saving, sparing, thrifty). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | ekonomičan, čuvaran (husbandly, prudent), štedljiv (economic, frugal, managing, parsimonious, penny-wise, saving, sparing, thrifty). (various references) | |
Spanish | equitativo (economic, equal, equitable, even, fair, right), economista (economic, economist), económico (affordable, economic, fiscal, income, inexpensive, saving, sparing, thrifty), rentable (economic, moneymaking, paying, profitable, profitably, profit-earning, profit-making), de economía (economic). (various references) | |
Swedish | sparsam (frugal, provident, saving, scanty, sparing, thrifty), ekonomisk (economic, financial, thrifty). (various references) | |
Thai | ประหยั" (economize, economize on, frugal, save, tighten one's belt). (various references) | |
Turkish | ekonomik (economic, economy), idareli (careful, chary, frugal, sparing, thrifty), hesaplı (calculated, economic, well balanced). (various references) | |
Turkmen | tygюytly. (various references) | |
Ukrainian | ощадливий (abstemious, canny, chary, economic, frugal, housewifely, inexpensive, parsimonious, provident, prudent, saving, scanty), матеріальний (corporeal, earthen, fleshly, material, physical, tangible), економічний (economic), економний (canny, economic, managing, sparing, thrifty). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | tiết kiệm kinh tế. (various references) | |
Welsh | cynnil (delicate). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | adtente, adtenti, adtentiore, insumptuosus, parcus. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "economical": economically. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "economical": uneconomical. (additional references) | |
Words containing "economical": socioeconomically. (additional references) | |
| |
"Economical" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: economiacal, Economica, economicaly, ekonomika. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "economical" (pronounced e'kunÄ"mikul or ē'kunÄ"mikul) |
| 10 | e' k u n Ä" m i k u l | uneconomical. |
| 8 | -u n Ä" m i k u l | astronomical. |
| 6 | -Ä" m i k u l | comical. |
| 5 | -m i k u l | electrochemical, inimical, petrochemical. |
| 4 | -i k u l | acoustical, alphabetical, analytical, antithetical, apolitical, archaeological, archeological, astrological, astronautical, asymmetrical, atypical, autobiographical, bicycle, biographical, biological, biomedical, biotechnological, botanical, categorical, cervical, chronological, classical, conical, critical, cubicle, cyclical, cylindrical, cynical, dermatological, diabolical, dialectical, ecclesiastical, ecological, ecumenical, egotistical, electrical, electromechanical, elliptical, empirical, encyclical, epidemiological, eschatological, ethical, ethnical, evangelical, fanatical, galenical, geographical, geological, geometrical, geopolitical, graphical, gynecological, helical, heretical, historical, hypercritical, hypocritical, hysterical, icicle, identical, ideological, illogical, immunological, spherical, statistical, stereotypical, strategical, surgical, symmetrical, tactical, technical, technological, teleological, testicle, theatrical, theological, ironical, lackadaisical, lexical, liturgical, logical, logistical, lyrical, magical, mathematical, mechanical, metallurgical, metaphorical, metaphysical, methodological, metrical, morphological, musical, mystical, mythological, neoclassical, neurological, nonelectrical, nonpolitical, nonsensical, nonsurgical, nontechnical, ontological, optical, ornithological, paradoxical, pathological, pedagogical, periodical, pharmaceutical, pharmacological, philosophical, phonological, physical, physiological, popsicle, preclinical, problematical, prototypical, psychical, psychological, puritanical, rabbinical, radiological, rhetorical, sabbatical, semiclassical, semicylindrical, semitropical, serological, sociological, theoretical, topical, toxicological, tricycle, tropical, typographical, tyrannical, umbilical, uncritical, unethical, untypical, vehicle, vertical, viatical, virological, whimsical, zoological. |
| 3 | -k u l | aeronautical, agrochemical, allegorical, anarchical, anatomical, ankle, anthropological, article, barnacle, biblical, bifocal, biochemical, brickle, buckle, cackle, chemical, Chronicle, chuckle, circle, clavicle, clerical, clinical, commonsensical, coracle, cortical, crackle, cuticle, cycle, debacle, diacritical, domical, ducal, encircle, epochal, equivocal, etymological, farcical, fecal, fickle, fiscal, focal, follicle, freckle, geophysical, gonococcal, grackle, grammatical, granduncle, hackle, heckle, heterocercal, hierarchical, honeysuckle, Huckle, hypothetical, impractical, Sokol, sparkle, speckle, spectacle, sprinkle, stickle, suckle, tabernacle, tackle, tentacle, jackal, knuckle, local, maniacal, matriarchal, medical, meikle, meteorological, methodical, Mickle, miracle, monocle, motorcycle, muckle, mythical, nautical, nickel, Nickle, Nicol, numerical, obstacle, Oracle, oratorical, particle, patriarchal, photochemical, pickle, pinnacle, polemical, political, pontifical, practical, pumpernickel, quizzical, radical, ramshackle, rankle, rascal, receptacle, reciprocal, recycle, ruckle, runkle, satirical, shackle, shekel, sickle, skeptical, tickle, tinkle, trickle, twinkle, typical, uncle, unequivocal, unicycle, unshackle, vocal, Winkle, wrinkle. |
| 9 | -k u n Ä" m i k u l | uneconomical. |
| 8 | -u n Ä" m i k u l | astronomical. |
| 6 | -Ä" m i k u l | comical. |
| 5 | -m i k u l | electrochemical, inimical, petrochemical. |
| 4 | -i k u l | acoustical, alphabetical, analytical, antithetical, apolitical, archaeological, archeological, astrological, astronautical, asymmetrical, atypical, autobiographical, bicycle, biographical, biological, biomedical, biotechnological, botanical, categorical, cervical, chronological, classical, conical, critical, cubicle, cyclical, cylindrical, cynical, dermatological, diabolical, dialectical, ecclesiastical, ecological, ecumenical, egotistical, electrical, electromechanical, elliptical, empirical, encyclical, epidemiological, eschatological, ethical, ethnical, evangelical, fanatical, galenical, geographical, geological, geometrical, geopolitical, graphical, gynecological, helical, heretical, historical, hypercritical, hypocritical, hysterical, icicle, identical, ideological, illogical, immunological, spherical, statistical, stereotypical, strategical, surgical, symmetrical, tactical, technical, technological, teleological, testicle, theatrical, theological, ironical, lackadaisical, lexical, liturgical, logical, logistical, lyrical, magical, mathematical, mechanical, metallurgical, metaphorical, metaphysical, methodological, metrical, morphological, musical, mystical, mythological, neoclassical, neurological, nonelectrical, nonpolitical, nonsensical, nonsurgical, nontechnical, ontological, optical, ornithological, paradoxical, pathological, pedagogical, periodical, pharmaceutical, pharmacological, philosophical, phonological, physical, physiological, popsicle, preclinical, problematical, prototypical, psychical, psychological, puritanical, rabbinical, radiological, rhetorical, sabbatical, semiclassical, semicylindrical, semitropical, serological, sociological, theoretical, topical, toxicological, tricycle, tropical, typographical, tyrannical, umbilical, uncritical, unethical, untypical, vehicle, vertical, viatical, virological, whimsical, zoological. |
| 3 | -k u l | aeronautical, agrochemical, allegorical, anarchical, anatomical, ankle, anthropological, article, barnacle, biblical, bifocal, biochemical, brickle, buckle, cackle, chemical, Chronicle, chuckle, circle, clavicle, clerical, clinical, commonsensical, coracle, cortical, crackle, cuticle, cycle, debacle, diacritical, domical, ducal, encircle, epochal, equivocal, etymological, farcical, fecal, fickle, fiscal, focal, follicle, freckle, geophysical, gonococcal, grackle, grammatical, granduncle, hackle, heckle, heterocercal, hierarchical, honeysuckle, Huckle, hypothetical, impractical, Sokol, sparkle, speckle, spectacle, sprinkle, stickle, suckle, tabernacle, tackle, tentacle, jackal, knuckle, local, maniacal, matriarchal, medical, meikle, meteorological, methodical, Mickle, miracle, monocle, motorcycle, muckle, mythical, nautical, nickel, Nickle, Nicol, numerical, obstacle, Oracle, oratorical, particle, patriarchal, photochemical, pickle, pinnacle, polemical, political, pontifical, practical, pumpernickel, quizzical, radical, ramshackle, rankle, rascal, receptacle, reciprocal, recycle, ruckle, runkle, satirical, shackle, shekel, sickle, skeptical, tickle, tinkle, trickle, twinkle, typical, uncle, unequivocal, unicycle, unshackle, vocal, Winkle, wrinkle. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-c-e-i-l-m-n-o-o" | |
-2 letters: coelomic, economic. | |
-3 letters: calcine, cocaine, coeliac, colonic, comical, conceal, conical, encomia, laconic, limacon, melanic, monocle, oceanic, oinomel. | |
-4 letters: aeonic, alnico, anemic, anomic, anomie, calico, camion, cancel, celiac, cicale, cinema, cineol, clonic, cocain, coelom, colone, coloni, coolie, enolic, eolian, iceman, income, inlace, lomein, malice, maline, manioc, menial, moline, oilcan, oilman, oilmen, oomiac. | |
-5 letters: acmic, alien. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-c-c-e-i-l-m-n-o-o" | |
+2 letters: economically, uneconomical. | |
+3 letters: conglomeratic, meningococcal, noncommercial, noncompliance. | |
+4 letters: chronometrical, commonsensical, noncommercials, noncompliances, noncomplicated, overcompliance. | |
+5 letters: chloramphenicol, cyanocobalamine, econometrically, overcompliances, photomechanical. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Historic 8. Quotations: Fiction | 9. Quotations: Non-fiction 10. Quotations: Speeches 11. Usage Frequency 12. Expressions | 13. Expressions: Internet 14. Translations: Modern 15. Translations: Ancient 16. Abbreviations | 17. Acronyms 18. Derivations 19. Rhymes 20. Anagrams | 21. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.