Meaning & use
penny smart, dollar foolish
Last updated
Meaning
phrasefixed phraseinformal
caring too much about saving small amounts of money while wasting much larger amounts
Grammar: Used as an adjective or a comment; it does not change form.
Patterns
- be penny smart, dollar foolish
- it is penny smart, dollar foolish to do something
He spends hours finding the cheapest phone case but buys a new car every year — that's penny smart, dollar foolish.
The company refused to pay for staff training but lost millions in mistakes; they were penny smart, dollar foolish.
Don't be penny smart, dollar foolish: fix the roof now before it costs you a fortune later.
Common combinations
- be penny smart, dollar foolish
- If you skip health insurance to save a little, you are penny smart, dollar foolish.
- penny smart, dollar foolish decision
- Cutting the safety budget was a penny smart, dollar foolish decision.
- penny smart, dollar foolish approach
- Their penny smart, dollar foolish approach ended up costing more.
Synonyms and how they differ
- penny-wise and pound-foolish
- The British version of the same idea; it is more common in British English.
- short-sighted
- Describes a general lack of long-term thinking, not specifically about money.
Commonly confused: penny smart, dollar foolish or penny-wise and pound-foolish?
penny smart, dollar foolish vs penny-wise and pound-foolish
This is the British equivalent; the American version uses 'smart' and 'dollar'.
Practice
Buying the cheapest shoes that break in a month is ___.
Choose one answer.
The American idiom is 'penny smart, dollar foolish'. 'Penny wise, pound foolish' is the British version and is not the usual form in American English. The other options change the fixed words and are not the idiom.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “penny smart, dollar foolish”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.