meagre

British

/ ˈmiːɡə /

adjective

deficient in amount, quality, or extent
thin or emaciated
lacking in richness or strength

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

meagrely adverb
meagreness noun

Etymology

Origin of meagre

C14: from Old French maigre, from Latin macer lean, poor

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.

Arsenal are on track to win the Premier League, with only Manchester City putting up a meagre attempt to stay in the race.

From BBC • Mar. 21, 2026

Only Delta, United, and Southwest Airlines can “generate meagre profits” with fuel at $4 a gallon or more, UBS analyst Atul Maheswari wrote in a note Monday.

From Barron's • Mar. 10, 2026

Rainy seasons in Somaliland have been late and meagre for at least five years, leading to frequent droughts, according to the Somaliland Ministry of Agriculture.

From Barron's • Feb. 23, 2026

In contrast Spurs have managed a meagre four points from the previous 27 available to them.

From BBC • Feb. 11, 2026

Both schools of thought are castles in the air, connected to the ground by the thin strings of meagre archaeological remains and anthropological observations of present-day foragers.

From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023