meager
AmericanRelated Words
See scanty.
Other Word Forms
- meagerly adverb
- meagerness noun
Etymology
Origin of meager
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English megre, from Old French maigre, from Latin macer “lean”
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.
In Africa, South Asia and the Middle East, the IMF warned that a number of countries were already struggling with meager foreign reserves and "limited market access," making them vulnerable to "dangerous" debt shocks.
From Barron's • Apr. 1, 2026
They often live in spartan conditions and earn meager wages.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 6, 2026
When he’s not strong-arming unsuspecting customers into hidden upcharges for their cars, he’s trying to gain some control in his meager, unsatisfied life.
From Salon • Feb. 7, 2026
Oscar, meanwhile, his idealism reawakened, sees an opportunity for an underprivileged kid with raw talent to escape her meager existence.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 30, 2026
It was called sharecropping, and it involved black families raising and harvesting crops for white landowners in exchange for a humble place to live and a meager share of the crops.
From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler
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.
