(pl. -ies)
1
- the wealth and resources of a country or region, especially in terms of the production and consumption of goods and services经济。
1.1
- a particular system or stage of an economy经济制度, 经济结构; 经济情况：
the less-developed economies
较不发达的经济状况
a free-market economy.
自由市场经济。
2
- mass noun careful management of available resources充分利用, 节约, 节省：
fuel economy.
燃料的充分利用。
2.1
- sparing or careful use of something节省, 简练, 简洁：
economy of words.
语言简练。
2.2
- count noun（一般作economies）a financial saving钱财的节省（或节约）：
there were many economies to be made by giving up our offices in central London.
放弃我们驻伦敦市中心的办事处可以节省许多开支。
2.3
- （亦作economy class）the cheapest class of air or rail travel（飞机或火车的）经济舱, 经济座：
we flew economy.
我们乘坐的是经济舱。
attrib.
1- (of a product) offering the best value for money（产品）经济的, 合算的, 廉价的：
an economy pack of soap flakes.
一包经济装的肥皂片。
1.1
- designed to be economical to use节约型（设计）的, 经济型的：
a new 1.1 litre economy engine.
一台1.1升的新型节油发动机。
短语
economy of scale
- a proportionate saving in costs gained by an increased level of production规模经济。
economy of scope
- a proportionate saving gained by producing two or more distinct goods, when the cost of doing so is less than that of producing each separately范围经济, 范畴经济, 纵深经济。
词源
late 15th cent. （in the sense 'management of material resources'）： from French économie, or via Latin from Greek oikonomia 'household management', based on oikos 'house' + nemein 'manage'. Current senses date from the 17th cent.