variants or meagre

Synonym Chooser

How does the adjective meager differ from other similar words?

Some common synonyms of meager are scanty, scant, skimpy, spare, and sparse. While all these words mean "falling short of what is normal, necessary, or desirable," meager implies the absence of elements, qualities, or numbers necessary to a thing's richness, substance, or potency.

a meager portion of meat

When is scant a more appropriate choice than meager?

The synonyms scant and meager are sometimes interchangeable, but scant suggests a falling short of what is desired or desirable rather than of what is essential.

in January the daylight hours are scant

When would scanty be a good substitute for meager?

The words scanty and meager can be used in similar contexts, but scanty stresses insufficiency in amount, quantity, or extent.

supplies too scanty to last the winter

When can skimpy be used instead of meager?

While in some cases nearly identical to meager, skimpy usually suggests niggardliness or penury as the cause of the deficiency.

tacky housing developments on skimpy lots

When might spare be a better fit than meager?

The meanings of spare and meager largely overlap; however, spare may suggest a slight falling short of adequacy or merely an absence of superfluity.

a spare, concise style of writing

In what contexts can sparse take the place of meager?

The words sparse and meager are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, sparse implies a thin scattering of units.

a sparse population

Examples of meager in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Support for higher education is meager, and there is just one public community college. Scott Cohn, CNBC, 16 Oct. 2024 Tennessee averaged a meager 3.9 yards per play and still won comfortably. Andrew Greif, NBC News, 1 Oct. 2024 Despite being nigh invisible to typical consumer telescopes—or a meager clump of pixels to professional-grade observatories—perhaps someday 2024 PT5 or one of its fellow mini-moon interlopers will be able to be seen by everyone up close, via images beamed back by a visiting spacecraft. Lee Billings, Scientific American, 25 Sep. 2024 Far from the relatively meager duration of a pop album aesthetic, your partnership with Pluto will be a full-on, capital E Era. Jennifer Culp, Them, 16 Oct. 2024 See all Example Sentences for meager 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'meager.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Thesaurus Entries Near meager

Cite this Entry

“Meager.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/meager. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.

More from Merriam-Webster on meager

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!