meager

CEFRC1

/ˈmiɡɚ/

adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    Too small in amount or not enough.

  2. 02

    adjective

    Extra detail

    Of a set: such that, considered as a subset of a (usually larger) topological space, it is in a precise sense small or negligible.

Examples

  • It was difficult to live on his meager earnings.

  • The beggar rattled a few meager coins in his tin can.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
1
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

  1. Poor, deficient or inferior in amount, quality or extent

  2. Having little flesh; lean; thin.

  3. Dry and harsh to the touch (e.g., as chalk).

More examples

In context

  • A meager piece of cake in one bite.

  • The street outside my window furnishes meager entertainment.

  • ...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, ...

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The prisoner's blank meal was just a dry slice of bread and water.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

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.