Meager Meaning
/ˈmiɡɚ/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjHaving little flesh; lean; thin.
adjPoor, deficient or inferior in amount, quality or extent
Sentence Examples
It was difficult to live on his meager earnings.
The beggar rattled a few meager coins in his tin can.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The prisoner's ____ meal was just a dry slice of bread and water.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The family had to survive on a ____ amount of food during the long and difficult winter months.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English megre, from Anglo-Norman megre, Old French maigre, from Latin macer, from Proto-Indo-European *mh₂ḱrós. Akin, through the Indo-European root, to Old English mæġer (“meager, lean”), West Frisian meager (“meager”), Dutch mager (“meager”), German mager, Icelandic magr whence the Icelandic magur, Norwegian Bokmål mager and Danish mager. Doublet of maigre.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"...that begets many ugly and deformed phantasies in the braine, which being also hot and drie in the second extenuates and makes meager the body extraordinarily, ..."
— 1607, Thomas Walkington, The Optick Glasse of Humors, or, The touchstone of a golden temperature, or ..., page 54:
"Nor none of thee thou pale and common drudge tween man and man: but thou, thou meager lead which rather threatnest then dost promise ought..."
— 1637, William Shakespeare, The most excellent Historie of the Merchant of Venice: With the extreame crueltie of Shylocke..., page E5:
"Making the run from Taipei to Panchiao every day to sell the gold-colored paper, he scraped together a meager livelihood."
— 2002, Huang Chin-shing, Business as a Vocation: The Autobiography of Wu Ho-Su, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 26:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The prisoner's ____ meal was just a dry slice of bread and water.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The family had to survive on a ____ amount of food during the long and difficult winter months.