Parsimony means extreme carefulness about spending money or using resources, sometimes to the point of being stingy. A parsimonious person might reuse tea bags three times, turn off lights in every room, or refuse to buy new shoes even when their old ones have holes. While being careful with money shows good sense, parsimony suggests taking it too far.

Someone practicing parsimony is notably tight-fisted, going beyond ordinary thriftiness or budget-consciousness. If your friend has plenty of Halloween candy but refuses to share even one piece, that's parsimonious behavior.

In science, parsimony has a different meaning: choosing the simplest explanation that fits the facts. Scientists prefer parsimonious theories because unnecessary complexity can lead to errors. If you hear strange noises in your attic, the parsimonious explanation might be squirrels rather than ghosts or aliens.

The key distinction: when describing someone's spending habits, parsimony suggests they're unreasonably stingy. When describing scientific thinking, it means elegantly simple and efficient. Context tells you which meaning applies.