- Today's Word
Penurious
puh-NYOOR-ee-uhs
Definition
- (adjective) Extremely poor; unwilling to spend money; stingy.
Example
The penurious landlord refused to fix the broken heating system during winter.
Fun Fact
“Penurious” shares roots with the word penury, meaning extreme poverty. But beyond being poor, it also implies miserly behavior—think Ebenezer Scrooge before his Christmas transformation. The word paints a picture of both lack and refusal: having little and holding tight to what little one has.
(noun) A profound transformation of mind and character; a fundamental change in one’s values, outlook, or way of life.
The diagnosis wasn’t a death sentence — for her it was a metanoia, a complete reorientation of everything she had previously decided mattered.
Metanoia derives from the Greek metanoia, meaning “change of mind,” built from meta- (“beyond” or “after”) and nous (“mind”). In classical Greek philosophy it described a shift in perspective so fundamental it altered the entire orientation of a person’s thinking. In early Christian theology it acquired the specific meaning of repentance — not merely feeling sorry but undergoing a complete transformation of character. Both meanings persist in modern usage, the secular and the spiritual versions of the word describing the same essential experience from different angles.