---
title: miserly — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «miserly» in the school dictionary: Miserly means very unwilling to spend money or share things; stingy. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# miserly

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**Who acts:** Miserly, Simon, miserly king, you, miserly farmer · **What happens:** mean, spend, share, be, not buy, count · **To what, where:** money, things, single treat, children, gold, none

<!-- .vabout -->
«miserly» in the school dictionary: its meaning for a pupil and its 4 examples, every sentence parsed by Mova itself — its syntax tree, a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies, and its pragmatics clause by clause. The word in the dictionary, with its sense in the lessons: [miserly in the school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/miserly.md).

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Miserly means very unwilling to spend money or share things; stingy.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:miserly:m1:1
# text = Miserly means very unwilling to spend money or share things; stingy.
1	Miserly	Miserly	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	very	very	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	unwilling	unwilling	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	xcomp	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	spend	spend	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	money	money	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
8	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	share	share	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
10	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	12	punct	_	_
12	stingy	stingy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | Miserly |  |  |  |  | unwilling *property* | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **spend** | to-infinitive | Miserly *not said here* | money |  |  |  |  | vn consume-66-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent money=Asset |
| 3 | **share** | infinitive | Miserly *not said here* | things |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Simon was rich but would not buy his children a single treat.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:miserly:x1:1
# text = Simon was rich but would not buy his children a single treat.
1	Simon	Simon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	rich	rich	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
5	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
6	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
7	buy	buy	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	treat	treat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Simon |  |  |  |  | rich *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **buy** | would | Simon *not said here* | a single treat | Simon's children |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP.beneficiary NP»: agent=Agent child=Beneficiary treat=Theme |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A miserly king counted his gold every night and gave none to the poor.

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:miserly:x2:1
# text = A miserly king counted his gold every night and gave none to the poor.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	miserly	miserly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	counted	count	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	8	det	_	_
8	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl:unmarked	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
11	none	none	PRON	NN	PronType=Neg	10	obj	_	_
12	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **count** | past | a miserly king | king's gold |  |  | night |  | vn multiply-108 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent gold=Theme |
| 2 | **give** | past | a miserly king *not said here* | none | the poor |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent none=Theme to poor=Recipient |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Do not be miserly with your sweets; share them.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:miserly:x3:1
# text = Do not be miserly with your sweets; share them.
1	Do	do	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	cop	_	_
4	miserly	miserly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	obj	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	sweets	sweet	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	9	punct	_	_
9	share	share	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	1	conj	_	_
10	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **not** **is** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | with your sweets; miserly *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **share** | infinitive | you *not said here* | sweets *= sweet* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

## Example 4 {#x4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The miserly farmer never paid the workers on time.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:miserly:x4:1
# text = The miserly farmer never paid the workers on time.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	miserly	miserly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	farmer	farmer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	paid	pay	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	workers	worker	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
8	on	on	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **pay** | past | the miserly farmer | the workers |  |  | time |  | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent worker=Asset |

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**Text:** the school dictionary of Mova's schools (`world/data/dictionary-schools/`), written for Mova. **Trees:** Mova's own parse — the `en` model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), each meaning and example read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

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