Meanings
plural ineconomies
- countableuncountableLack of economy; waste (of resources, etc.).First known use late 19th c.
The sources of ineconomy in steam engines may broadly be classed under the two heads: failure to obtain indicated work from the energy of the steam, and dissipation of the indicated work in overcoming engine friction.
1894 September 21, E. Tremlett Carter, “Motive Power and Gearing”, in The Electrician: A Weekly Illustrated Journal of Electrical Engineering, Industry and Science, volume XXXIII, number 853, London: […] George Tucker, […], →OCLC, page 593, column 21 more example
[T]he mouth of the salt-water creek was usually surging like a mill-race, but wasting its power—or so it had been—on transporting such things as jellyfish, leaves, and crocodiles. This waste had been the cause of great irritation to Mark, who, though careless of most forms of ineconomy, could not bear to see the wasting of natural force.
1938, Xavier Herbert, “Heir to All the Ages”, in Capricornia […], New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton-Century Co., published 1943, →OCLC, page 69Synonyms: uneconomicalness · Antonyms: economy, frugality
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
From in- (“lacking, without”) + economy.
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with ineconomy
Cite this entry
ineconomy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ineconomy
“ineconomy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ineconomy. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ineconomy,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ineconomy.
Source: ineconomy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.