economy

• oeconomy, œconomy (obsolete)

From Middle English yconomye, yconomy, borrowed via Old French [Term?] or Medieval Latin^[1] from Latin oeconomia, from Ancient Greek οἰκονομία (oikonomía, “management of a household, administration”), from οἶκος (oîkos, “house”) + νέμω (némō, “distribute, allocate”). By surface analysis, eco- +‎ -nomy. The first recorded sense of the word economy, found in a work possibly composed in 1440, is “the management of economic affairs”, in this case, of a monastery.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪˈkɒ.nə.mi/, /əˈkɒ.nə.mi/
• (General American) enPR: ĭkŏʹnəmē, əkŏʹnəmē IPA^(key): /iːˈkɑ.nə.mi/, /ɪˈkɑ.nə.mi/, /əˈkɑ.nə.mi/

  • Audio (US):

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• Rhymes: -ɒnəmi

economy (countable and uncountable, plural economies)

1. Effective management of a community or system, or especially its resources.
   1. (obsolete) The regular operation of nature in the generation, nutrition and preservation of animals or plants.

      animal economy, vegetable economy

   2. (obsolete) System of management; general regulation and disposition of the affairs of a state or nation, or of any department of government.
   3. (obsolete) A system of rules, regulations, rites and ceremonies.

      the Jewish economy

   4. (obsolete) The disposition or arrangement of any work.

      the economy of a poem

      • 1857, Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown's School Days:

        The place pleased them so much that they spent all their spare time there, scratching and cutting their names on the top of every tower; and at last, having exhausted all other places, finished up with inscribing H.EAST, T.BROWN, on the minute-hand of the great clock; in the doing of which they held the minute-hand, and disturbed the clock's economy.

2. The study of money, currency and trade, and the efficient use of resources.
3. Frugal use of resources.

   economy of word

   • April 5, 1729, Jonathan Swift, letter to St. John

     I have no other notion of economy than that it is the parent to liberty and ease.

4. The system of production and distribution and consumption. The overall measure of a currency system; as the national economy.
   • 2013 August 31, “Horns of a trilemma”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8851:

     An economy open to free movement of capital can keep a fixed exchange rate, for example, only by subjugating monetary-policy goals to its defence—by raising interest rates sharply, say, when capital outflows put downward pressure on the currency. Yet the trilemma also implies that an economy can enjoy both free capital flows and an independent monetary policy, so long as it gives up worrying about its exchange rate.

5. (theology) The method of divine government of the world. (See w:Economy (religion).)
6. (US) The part of a commercial passenger airplane or train reserved for those paying the lower standard fares; economy class.
7. (archaic) Management of one’s residency.

• economics
  • macroeconomics
  • microeconomics

economy (not comparable)

1. Cheap to run; using minimal resources; representing good value for money; economical.

   He bought an economy car.

   Economy size.

economy (not comparable)

1. (US) In or via the part of a commercial passenger airplane reserved for those paying the lower standard fares.

   Numerous web sites have tips on how to fly economy.

• monoecy