meager

adjective

mea·ger ˈmē-gər How to pronounce meager (audio)

variants or meagre

: having little flesh : thin

meager were his looks, sharp misery had worn him to the bones

William Shakespeare

: lacking desirable qualities (such as richness or strength)

leading a meager life

: deficient in quality or quantity

a meager diet

meagerly adverb

meagerness noun

Example Sentences

Every morning he eats a meager breakfast of toast and coffee. We'll have to do the best we can with this year's meager harvest. She came to this country with a fairly meager English vocabulary, but she is learning more words every day. They suffered through several meager years at the beginning of their marriage. Although she's now rich and famous, she remembers her meager beginnings as a child from a poor family.

Recent Examples on the Web On top of that, interest rates were meager, and the costs of acquisitions were low.

Dave Cantin, Forbes, 2 Aug. 2022 Instability, or fuel for storms, will be plentiful, but wind dynamics will be meager.

Matthew Cappucci, Washington Post, 8 June 2022 The percentage of women on boards in Nasdaq companies was 30.4%, sitting much higher than the proportion of women on boards of Fortune 500, Russell 3000 and private companies (which come in at 26.5%, 26.7% and a meager 14%, respectively).

Olivia Peluso, Forbes, 9 June 2022 Only 8% of Manhattan office workers are back five days a week, and a meager 38% of employees in the office on an average weekday, per the Partnership of New York City.

Chloe Berger, Fortune, 9 June 2022 The all-season tires—only the CT4-V offers summers—limit grip to a meager 0.81 g.

Scott Oldham, Car and Driver, 14 Aug. 2020 But the meager growth still encouraged investors given the ongoing supply chain headwinds.

Grady Mcgregor, Fortune, 30 June 2022 Despite a meager growth in the top line, the firm managed to report a 65% y-o-y jump in the adjusted net income to $7.6 billion.

Trefis Team, Forbes, 3 June 2022 For instance, Gusto found that most of the job growth among the states that cut aid early stemmed from places with the highest vaccination rates, while those with low vaccination rates experienced meager job growth.

Kathryn Watson, CBS News, 6 Aug. 2021 See More

Word History

Etymology

Middle English megre "thin, having little flesh from lack of food," borrowed from Anglo-French megre, maigre, going back to Latin macr-, macer "thin, lean, of little substance," going back to Indo-European *mh₂ḱ-ro- "long, thin," whence also Germanic *magra- "lean" (whence Old English mæger "lean," Old High German magar, Old Norse magr), Greek makrós "long, tall, high, large"; derivative in *-ro-, adjective suffix, of a base *meh₂ḱ-, *mh₂ḱ- seen also in Latin maciēs "bodily thinness, wasting," Greek mêkos "length," mḗkistos "longest, highest," Avestan masah- "length, greatness," masišta- "highest," Hittite maklant- "thin, slim (of animals)"

Note: Alternatively from Indo-European *maḱ- if a is accepted as a vowel, as the laryngeal h₂ is invoked solely to produce the right vocalism.

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

单词	meagerly
释义	meager adjective mea·ger ˈmē-gər variants or meagre 1 : having little flesh : thin meager were his looks, sharp misery had worn him to the bones William Shakespeare 2 a : lacking desirable qualities (such as richness or strength) leading a meager life b : deficient in quality or quantity a meager diet meagerly adverb meagerness noun Synonyms exiguous hand-to-mouth light niggardly poor scant scanty scarce skimp skimpy slender slim spare sparing sparse stingy See all Synonyms & Antonyms Example Sentences Every morning he eats a meager breakfast of toast and coffee. We'll have to do the best we can with this year's meager harvest. She came to this country with a fairly meager English vocabulary, but she is learning more words every day. They suffered through several meager years at the beginning of their marriage. Although she's now rich and famous, she remembers her meager beginnings as a child from a poor family. Recent Examples on the Web On top of that, interest rates were meager, and the costs of acquisitions were low. Dave Cantin, Forbes, 2 Aug. 2022 Instability, or fuel for storms, will be plentiful, but wind dynamics will be meager. Matthew Cappucci, Washington Post, 8 June 2022 The percentage of women on boards in Nasdaq companies was 30.4%, sitting much higher than the proportion of women on boards of Fortune 500, Russell 3000 and private companies (which come in at 26.5%, 26.7% and a meager 14%, respectively). Olivia Peluso, Forbes, 9 June 2022 Only 8% of Manhattan office workers are back five days a week, and a meager 38% of employees in the office on an average weekday, per the Partnership of New York City. Chloe Berger, Fortune, 9 June 2022 The all-season tires—only the CT4-V offers summers—limit grip to a meager 0.81 g. Scott Oldham, Car and Driver, 14 Aug. 2020 But the meager growth still encouraged investors given the ongoing supply chain headwinds. Grady Mcgregor, Fortune, 30 June 2022 Despite a meager growth in the top line, the firm managed to report a 65% y-o-y jump in the adjusted net income to $7.6 billion. Trefis Team, Forbes, 3 June 2022 For instance, Gusto found that most of the job growth among the states that cut aid early stemmed from places with the highest vaccination rates, while those with low vaccination rates experienced meager job growth. Kathryn Watson, CBS News, 6 Aug. 2021 See More Word History Etymology Middle English megre "thin, having little flesh from lack of food," borrowed from Anglo-French megre, maigre, going back to Latin macr-, macer "thin, lean, of little substance," going back to Indo-European mh₂ḱ-ro- "long, thin," whence also Germanic magra- "lean" (whence Old English mæger "lean," Old High German magar, Old Norse magr), Greek makrós "long, tall, high, large"; derivative in -ro-, adjective suffix, of a base meh₂ḱ-, mh₂ḱ- seen also in Latin maciēs* "bodily thinness, wasting," Greek mêkos "length," mḗkistos "longest, highest," Avestan masah- "length, greatness," masišta- "highest," Hittite maklant- "thin, slim (of animals)" Note: Alternatively from Indo-European maḱ- if a is accepted as a vowel, as the laryngeal h₂ is invoked solely to produce the right vocalism. First Known Use 14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1 Kids Definition meager adjective mea·ger variants or meagre ˈmē-gər 1 : not enough in quality or amount a meager* income 2 : having little flesh : thin meagerly adverb as in scantily Synonyms & Similar Words Relevance scantily minimally slightly little barely nominally scarcely negligibly marginally hardly just Antonyms & Near Antonyms heavily very most highly extremely exceedingly extensively significantly considerably substantially far entirely terribly greatly too so particularly awfully much especially thoroughly exceeding extra completely something frightfully mightily utterly totally purely mighty awful super exceptionally full real mortally deadly eminently right abundantly rattling appreciably plentifully noticeably generously palpably handsomely jolly liberally beastly whacking discernibly grandly astronomically monstrously hugely monumentally See More
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meager

adjective

Synonyms

Example Sentences

Word History

Kids Definition

adjective

adverb