economy
Pluraleconomies
Pluraleconomies
- 1The system by which a country produces, distributes, and consumes goods and services, together with the overall measure of its financial activity.
The national economy expanded by three percent following the trade agreement.
Economists worry that rising debt could destabilize the entire economy.
UsageUsually the economy for a country's own system; an economy or economies when comparing countries.
- 2Careful, sparing use of money, materials, or other resources in order to avoid waste.
The factory achieved real economy by reusing its scrap metal.
Wartime rationing taught a whole generation the habit of economy.
UsageUse economies for specific cuts (make economies) and economy alone for the habit of saving.
Similarthrift, frugality, saving, prudence, husbandry
Oppositewaste, extravagance, profligacy, prodigality
Note
Thrift can be either a habit or a single act. Used uncountably, economy is the virtue: Jonathan Swift wrote in 1729 that it was "the parent of liberty and ease." Used countably, an economy is one particular saving. Railway Magazine in 1956 reports that every possible economy was investigated and every unnecessary expense cut.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Jonathan Swift wrote the cited passage in 1729. en.wikisource.org
- Railway Magazine reported in 1956 that every possible economy was investigated and unnecessary expense eliminated. en.wiktionary.org
- 3The section of a commercial airplane or train set aside for passengers paying the lower standard fares.
He upgraded from economy to business class using his frequent-flyer miles.
Economy was fully booked, so the airline offered him an upgrade.
UsageShort for economy class: in economy, upgrade from economy.
Similarcoach
Less common meanings
- 4Inexpensive to buy or to run; designed to save money and give good value, often by leaving out extras.
The economy range of appliances appeals to budget-conscious buyers.
They chose the economy package because it offered the best value.
UsageUsed before a noun: an economy car, economy size. After a verb, say economical: the car is economical.
Similarbudget, inexpensive, low-cost, cheap
Oppositeluxury, premium, deluxe
Note
On packaging and price lists it signals the option offering the best value for money, rather than a cheap or inferior one.
- 5The discipline that examines money, currency, and trade, together with the efficient management of resources.
Similareconomics
- 6By means of or in the section of a commercial airplane reserved for passengers paying the lower standard fares.
She prefers to fly economy and spend the savings on her vacation.
The whole team traveled economy, even the company's chief executive.
UsageFollows the verb directly, with no article: fly economy, travel economy.
Similarcoach
Oppositefirst
- 7The management and regulation of the affairs and resources of a household, state, or institution.
Note
Statecraft rather than markets: the household image scaled up to a nation or a government department. The sense is obsolete, so in older political writing the economy of a province means how it was governed and regulated, not what it produced or traded. Keep that in mind before reading the modern economic sense back into an old treatise.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- The household-management image was extended to government at the national level. gutenberg.org
- Economy has an obsolete sense referring to the management and regulation of governmental affairs; the province example illustrates this sense. en.wiktionary.org
- 8An ordered system of rules and regulations together with the rites and ceremonies that go with them.
Note
Religion or an institution seen as one ordered system. In older writing, the Jewish economy meant the Jewish body of law, rite and ceremony taken as a single arrangement. The sense is obsolete. It sits close to the theological sense but is narrower, because it means the rulebook of one faith or body, not God's governance of the world.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- Economy has an obsolete sense covering an ordered system of rules, regulations, rites and ceremonies. en.wiktionary.org
- Older writing uses 'Jewish economy' for the Jewish religious arrangement, including its ceremonies. gutenberg.org
- The distinction from divine economy is valid: the institutional sense concerns a particular system, whereas divine economy extends to God's dealings with the world. en.wikipedia.org
- 9The arrangement or organization of the parts of a work.
Note
A critic's word for how a work is put together: the economy of a poem is the arrangement of its parts. This structural meaning is obsolete. It is easily confused with the praise still given to a lean poem, which belongs to the "frugal" sense. Economy of words means few words wasted, not a particular arrangement of parts.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- Economy has an obsolete structural sense meaning the arrangement of a work, including a poem. en.wiktionary.org
- Economy of words concerns avoiding wasted words. gutenberg.org
- 10Nature's regular operation in the generation, nutrition, and preservation of plants and animals.
The naturalist's book described the economy of the forest in loving detail.
He saw in every meadow the quiet economy of growth and decay.
Note
Nature pictured as a well-run household. The Greek oikonomía behind the word meant managing a house, from oîkos "house" and némō "distribute", and here the one doing the distributing is nature itself. The sense survives in old phrases such as animal economy and vegetable economy. It is obsolete, so a modern reader meeting those phrases should read them as the workings of animal or plant life, never as anything financial.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts
- Economy ultimately derives from Greek oikonomía, meaning household management. en.wiktionary.org
- Greek oikonomía ultimately combines oîkos and némō. en.wiktionary.org
- Oîkos means house. en.wiktionary.org
- Némō means distribute. en.wiktionary.org
- Animal economy and vegetable economy exemplify the historical sense concerning nature's operation in living organisms. en.wiktionary.org
- 11The method by which God governs and orders the world.
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Practice
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Origin
This word came into Middle English (as 'yconomye') from Latin 'oeconomia', borrowed via Old French or Medieval Latin, ultimately from Ancient Greek 'oikonomía' meaning 'management of a household', formed from 'oîkos' (house) plus 'némō' (to distribute or allocate). Its earliest recorded English sense, in a work possibly written in 1440, was the management of economic affairs.