measly
Americanadjective
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Informal.
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contemptibly small, meager, or slight.
They paid me a measly fifteen dollars for a day's work.
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wretchedly bad or unsatisfactory.
a measly performance.
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infected with measles, as an animal or its flesh.
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pertaining to or resembling measles.
adjective
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informal meagre in quality or quantity
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(of meat) measled
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having or relating to measles
Etymology
Origin of measly
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“Well,” said Zeke, who felt like this was an awful lot of pressure on one measly apology to a lying, bullying, wannabe supervillain, “I guess so.”
From Literature
In fact, XLP has been a laggard for some time, with owners seeing a measly 16% gain over the past five years, a period when the S&P 500 gained nearly 85%.
From Barron's
In fact, XLP has been a laggard for some time, with owners seeing a measly 16% gain over the past five years, a period when the S&P 500 gained nearly 85%.
From Barron's
Our measly four seasons are insufficient in describing the way nature undulates around us, week to week and month to month.
But in the worst-case scenario, the economy remains on a measly path.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
