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

The only redeeming thing in this meager culinary set-up is my collection of Countertop blends. — Michaela Bechler, Vogue, "Forget the Spice Rack: These Chef-Approved Ingredients Are All the Seasoning You Need," 16 Aug. 2018 The meager tourist count doesn’t mean there’s less wildlife or fewer extraordinary landscapes. — Andrew Sessa, Condé Nast Traveler, "Ruaha: The African National Park You'll Have Almost All to Yourself," 11 Oct. 2018 And the effects were meager at best, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities’ LaDonna Pavetti, who reviewed this literature last year. — Julia Belluz, Vox, "A new Trump rule could take food stamps away from 755,000 people," 20 Dec. 2018 Increases in business investment earlier this year could offset that drag, but business investment in the third quarter grew at a meager 0.8% annual rate, in part because spending on oil and gas rigs was down. — Sarah Chaney, WSJ, "Worker-Productivity Gains Coming Up Short in Stronger Economy," 1 Nov. 2018 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

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.