Definition of MEAGER

Choose the Right Synonym for meager

meager, scanty, scant, skimpy, spare, sparse 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 scanty stresses insufficiency in amount, quantity, or extent. supplies too scanty to last the winter scant suggests a falling short of what is desired or desirable rather than of what is essential. in January the daylight hours are scant skimpy usually suggests niggardliness or penury as the cause of the deficiency. tacky housing developments on skimpy lots spare may suggest a slight falling short of adequacy or merely an absence of superfluity. a spare, concise style of writing sparse implies a thin scattering of units. a sparse population

Examples of meager in a Sentence

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

Hiring is starting to recover, but most jobs are part-time or seasonal, for meager pay. — WSJ, "Many Greeks Struggle to Keep Their Heads Above Water as Bailout Ends," 20 Aug. 2018 The betrayal encouraged contributors to come forward with horror stories about being forced to write for BGN gratis, often for weeks, before getting paid laughably meager rates and barely receiving any editing or feedback on their efforts. — Devon Maloney, The Verge, "How the first Wakandacon escaped the fan convention curse," 13 Aug. 2018 McDaniel’s relatively meager showing was the end of a long fight between him and the Republican establishment in the state. — Dylan Scott, Vox, "The Mississippi Senate runoff, Dems’ last chance for one more 2018 upset, explained," 20 Nov. 2018 Two powerful trends are at work: a labor shortage amid the tightest job market in almost five decades, and the propensity for longer-living Americans to keep working — even part-time — to supplement often-meager retirement savings. — Leslie Patton, The Seattle Times, "Senior citizens are replacing teenagers as fast-food workers," 13 Nov. 2018 As a result, the benefits of regulations that reduce greenhouse gas emissions look pretty meager. — Cass R. Sunstein, WSJ, "A Quiet Revolution Has Given the U.S. Smarter Regulations," 21 Oct. 2018 The financial disclosure forms for the years 2012 through 2017 also show relatively meager assets to go along with Kavanaugh's debt load. — Mike James And, USA TODAY, "Brett Kavanaugh racked up huge credit card debt buying Washington Nationals tickets, report says," 11 July 2018 The irreverent, cigarette-smoking Maggie (Jennie Israel) occupies herself as the family housekeeper and cook, meager though most meals are. — Don Aucoin, BostonGlobe.com, "A dance of regret in Gloucester Stage’s ‘Lughnasa’," 20 June 2018 His law firm was abruptly forced into bankruptcy by a Florida man who claimed he was owed the relatively meager sum of $28,700. — Maeve Reston, CNN, "Exclusive: How a 'nobody' ex-con pushed Avenatti law firm into bankruptcy," 1 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'meager.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.