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Parsimonious

Parsimonious is an adjective meaning characterized by or showing parsimony; frugal or economical in the use of money or resources, often sparing rather than wasteful. The term’s etymology traces to Latin parsimonia meaning frugality, passing into English via Old French as parcimonie or related forms.

In philosophical and scientific contexts, parsimony refers to the principle that, among competing explanations, the simplest

Parsimony also appears in fields such as evolutionary biology and linguistics, where parsimony methods seek the

In everyday language, parsimonious can describe a person who is economical or frugal with money, sometimes

See also: parsimony, Occam’s razor, model selection, overfitting.

one
with
the
fewest
assumptions
is
preferable.
Occam’s
razor
is
a
well-known
formulation
of
this
idea.
In
statistics
and
data
modeling,
a
parsimonious
model
explains
the
data
with
the
smallest
possible
number
of
parameters
or
assumptions,
reducing
the
risk
of
overfitting.
Model
selection
criteria
such
as
the
Akaike
Information
Criterion
(AIC)
or
Bayesian
Information
Criterion
(BIC)
reinforce
preference
for
simplicity.
evolutionary
history
or
linguistic
changes
that
minimize
the
total
number
of
changes.
with
a
negative
connotation
implying
stinginess,
though
it
can
be
used
neutrally
to
denote
prudent
budgeting
or
efficient
use
of
resources.