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n. pl. e·con·o·mies 1. a. Careful, thrifty management of resources, such as money, materials, or labor: learned to practice economy in making out the household budget. b. An example or result of such management; a saving. 2. a. The system or range of economic activity in a country, region, or community: Effects of inflation were felt at every level of the economy. b. A specific type of economic system: an industrial economy; a planned economy. 3. An orderly, functional arrangement of parts; an organized system: "the sense that there is a moral economy in the world, that good is rewarded and evil is punished" (George F. Will). 4. Efficient, sparing, or conservative use: wrote with an economy of language. 5. The least expensive class of accommodations, especially on a commercial conveyance, such as an airplane. 6. Theology The method of God's government of and activity within the world. adj. Economical or inexpensive to buy or use: an economy car; an economy motel. [Middle English yconomye, management of a household, from Latin oeconomia, from Greek oikonomiā, from oikonomos, manager of a household : oikos, house; see weik-1 in the Appendix of Indo-European roots + nemein, to allot, manage; see nem- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] |
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