Definition

1. Verb:

   • To subject to persistent, minor financial demands or expenses; to wear down with small, frequent charges or fees. This verb form often implies a process that is draining or exploitative through many small amounts.
   • To be extremely frugal or miserly; to accumulate something gradually through the saving of very small amounts of money.

2. Adjective:

   • Involving or dealing with small amounts of money; low-paying. Used to describe jobs or financial matters that are insignificant or poorly compensated.
   • Unimportant on a large scale; petty; small-time. Describes operations, activities, or concerns that are trivial or of minor significance.

Usage Examples

• Verb:

  • The bank nickel-and-dimed its customers with endless fees for every small service.
  • They nickel-and-dimed their way to a down payment by saving every spare dollar for years.

• Adjective:

  • He was tired of his nickel-and-dime job and wanted a career with a real future.
  • It was just a nickel-and-dime operation, not the large corporation the salesman claimed it to be.

Advanced Usage

• The term is often used critically to describe a business practice perceived as greedy or customer-unfriendly.
• It can describe a strategy of incremental, persistent effort, whether in saving money or in wearing someone down.

Variants and Related Words

• Nickel-and-dimer (noun): A person who is very frugal or who operates a small-time, petty business.
  • He was a notorious nickel-and-dimer, always arguing over a few cents.
• To nickel and dime someone (phrasal verb): The act of charging many small, often irritating fees.
  • The phone company is always trying to nickel and dime me with new surcharges.

Synonyms

• Verb: Pinch pennies, scrimp, skimp, bleed dry (with small charges).
• Adjective: Petty, small-time, trivial, minor, low-paying, paltry.

Related Idioms and Phrases

• Penny-wise and pound-foolish: Related in concept, as it deals with focusing on small savings (pennies) while incurring large costs (pounds). "Nickel-and-dime" focuses more on the process of many small charges or efforts.
• Small change: Literally coins of little value, used metaphorically similar to the adjective form of "nickel-and-dime."

Verb

1. accumulate gradually
   • she nickeled-and-dimed together a small house for her family
2. spend money frugally; spend as little as possible

Adjective

1. low-paying
   • a nickel-and-dime job
2. of minor importance
   • a nickel-and-dime operation run out of a single rented room
   • a small-time actor