ungenerous

U1N1G2E1N1E1R1O1U1S1

adjective

Not generous; stingy.

Opposite
RareScrabble 11

Meanings

adjectiveungenerous (comparative more ungenerous, superlative most ungenerous)

comparative more ungenerous · superlative most ungenerous

  1. Not generous; stingy.

    Moreover, it were ungenerous, having bred thee up freakish and fiery, to dismiss thee to want or wandering, for shewing that very peevishness and impatience of discipline which arose from thy too delicate nurture.

    1820, [Walter Scott], chapter XV, in The Abbot. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne & Co.] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Company, and John Ballantyne, […], →OCLC, page 332
    1 more example

    "I have every reason in the world to think ill of you. No motive can excuse the unjust and ungenerous part you acted there. You dare not, you cannot deny that you have been the principal, if not the only means of dividing them from each other, of exposing one to the censure of the world for caprice and instability, and the other to its derision for disappointed hopes, and involving them both in misery of the acutest kind."

    1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter XI, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume II, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 128

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectivelacking in magnanimity

Opposite

adjectiveunwilling to spend (money, time, resources, etc.)

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*né
  2. Proto-Indo-European*n̥-
  3. Proto-Germanic*un-
  4. Proto-West Germanic*un-
  5. Old Englishun-
  6. Middle Englishun-
  7. Englishun-
  8. Englishgenerous
  9. Englishungenerous

From un- + generous.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

ungenerous. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ungenerous

MLA

“ungenerous.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ungenerous. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ungenerous,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ungenerous.

Source: ungenerous on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.