as in nominal
so small or unimportant as to warrant little or no attention
offered her guest only one measly cookie
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Recent Examples of measly
The tacky-meter reaches new heights when Brit presents the Housewives (of course no one else got gift bags) some of her shapewear in sad cardboard boxes without a lick of tissue paper or even a measly bow.
—
Ile-Ife Okantah, Vulture, 26 May 2025
For the fifth Game 7 in a row, the Leafs scored one measly goal.
—Joshua Kloke, New York Times, 19 May 2025
But the Democratic congressional leadership, with their measly 27 percent approval rating, managed to beat him to the bottom.
—Gregory Wallance, The Hill, 6 May 2025
Game 2 is Wednesday at Paycom Center after another measly 48-hour reset period.
—Bennett Durando, Denver Post, 5 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for measly
Ile-Ife Okantah, Vulture, 26 May 2025
For the fifth Game 7 in a row, the Leafs scored one measly goal.
—Joshua Kloke, New York Times, 19 May 2025
But the Democratic congressional leadership, with their measly 27 percent approval rating, managed to beat him to the bottom.
—Gregory Wallance, The Hill, 6 May 2025
Game 2 is Wednesday at Paycom Center after another measly 48-hour reset period.
—Bennett Durando, Denver Post, 5 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for measly
Recent Examples of Synonyms for measly
Adjective
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There's a low nominal cost, but the fact is there was a really significant cost because of the bureaucracy and time and uncertainty, with a lot of companies tied up with it.—
Hugh Cameron,
MSNBC Newsweek,
7 Oct. 2025
-
But analysts believe that figure was nominal if anything.—
Rebecca Rubin,
Variety,
6 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
They are made of cotton with a slight stretch, but still have structure in the front.—
Chaunie Brusie,
Parents,
7 Oct. 2025
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Herro was an All-Star last year while Ball wasn’t; Herro’s injury gives the Hornets a slight edge in these rankings.—
Law Murray,
New York Times,
7 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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In many respects, CDMS users receive the powerful anti-ship capabilities of a surface warfare vessel worth many hundreds of millions of dollars for just a tiny fraction of that price.—
Prabhat Ranjan Mishra,
Interesting Engineering,
11 Oct. 2025
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Spiders have venom to subdue prey, but the majority have fangs that are too tiny to puncture human skin.—
Arricca Elin SanSone,
Southern Living,
11 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
Fed Chair Jerome Powell had already opened the door to a September rate cut during a speech last month before the BLS released another brutal jobs report Friday, showing a paltry gain of 29,000 jobs in August.—
Sylvan Lane,
The Hill,
9 Sep. 2025
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But those refunds were relatively paltry.—
Erin Doherty,
CNBC,
8 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Measly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/measly. Accessed 15 Oct. 2025.
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