top definitions
related content
examples

meager

[ mee-ger ]

/ ˈmi gər /

SEE SYNONYMS FOR meager ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

deficient in quantity or quality; lacking fullness or richness; scanty; inadequate: a meager salary; meager fare; a meager harvest.

having little flesh; lean; thin: a body meager with hunger.

maigre.

Also especially British, mea·gre.

Origin of meager

1300–50; Middle English megre < Old French maigre < Latin macer lean

SYNONYMS FOR meager

1 See scanty.

2 gaunt, spare, skinny.

SEE SYNONYMS FOR meager ON THESAURUS.COM

OTHER WORDS FROM meager

mea·ger·ly, adverb mea·ger·ness, noun

Words nearby meager

meadowlark, meadows's syndrome, meadowsweet, meads, meadville, meager, meagre, meal, meal moth, meal ticket, mealie

Example sentences from the Web for meager

Especially in a country where the minimum wage is a meager $3.00 an hour.

House of the Witch: The Renegade Craft Brewers of Panama |Jeff Campagna |November 30, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
Rising to retrieve it, I offer her what meager reassurance I can muster.

The Stacks: Grateful Dead I Have Known |Ed McClanahan |August 30, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
He called on his parents not to accept any “meager compensation” for his death.

Medieval Cruelty in Modern Times: ISIS Thugs Behead American Journalist |Christopher Dickey |August 19, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
Look through that PDF I just linked to and feast on the meager amounts earmarked for democracy and assistance programs.

Is It Just Me or Is the World Exploding? So Why Isn’t Obama Doing More? |Michael Tomasky |July 28, 2014 |DAILY BEAST

Personal consumption expenditures—people buying stuff—grew at a meager one percent rate in the first quarter.

How Obamacare Helped Crash the Economy |Daniel Gross |June 25, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
The school period of one hour or an hour and a half has been found by most teachers to be too meager for a healthy class life.

The Boy and the Sunday School |John L. Alexander
With a snarl, Maria thrust her hand into her meager bosom, and drew forth a little bag with its draw-strings.

The Wilderness Trail |Frank Williams
He ate some apples, and washed down the meager meal with water from a spring.

Once Upon A Planet |J. J. Allerton
It was part of my plan, this meager manning of the bandit ship.

Astounding Stories of Super-Science, November, 1930 |Various
She had paid the express charges out of her own meager funds.

Whispers at Dawn |Roy J. Snell