economye·con·o·my1 /ɪˈkɒnəmiɪˈkɑː-/ noun (plural economies)1[countableC]ECONOMICS the system by which a country’s goods and services are produced and used, or a country considered in this waythe transformation from a centrally planned socialist economy to a market-led one
He expects Europe’s economies over the long run to grow faster than the US’s.
→ black economy → command economy → exchange economy → free economy → global economy → Goldilocks economy → informal economy → knowledge economy → market economy → mixed economy → parallel economy → planned economy → political economy → real economy → service economy → shadow economy2[uncountableU] the careful use of money, goods, time etc so that nothing is wastedFor reasons of economy, the heating had been turned down.
The post office was closed as part of an economy drive (=a planned effort to cut costs).
3[countableC] a way of spending less moneyFollowing the merger, the group should make economies of about FFr200 million next year.
As an economy measure, the company started to cut back on training.
4false economy something that seems to be a way of spending less money, but actually costs you more money in the endBuying cheaper, poorer quality materials is often a false economy.