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
Explanation
Measly is a great word for describing an amount or number so small that it's ridiculous. You'll be disappointed (and maybe even annoyed) if you're paid a measly six dollars to babysit a toddler for two hours. If you've got a measly ten minutes to eat lunch between classes, it's a laughably short amount of time — hardly enough to unwrap your tuna sandwich. And when a detective has a measly number of clues to help her solve a crime, it can seem nearly impossible. This informal word comes from British slang, and it originally meant "affected by measles."
Vocabulary lists containing measly
Red Kayak
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Merci Suárez Changes Gears
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The Distance Between Us
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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.
See Examples For:
No whining about measly travel headaches with the mother of all bad-trip sagas looming on the big screen.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
Is our celebration of a measly 250 years of continuous operation another example of American puffery?
From Slate ● Jul. 4, 2026
At its IPO price, shares yield 7.7%, versus a measly 1.1% for the S&P 500.
From Barron's ● Jun. 9, 2026
The Bank of Canada expects the country’s resource economy to grow a measly 1.1% this year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 29, 2026
All that work and he’d brought home a measly two bushels.
From "Red Kayak" by Priscilla Cummings
He scored more points and played more minutes than anyone on the court in a game that ended 87-82, the measliest winning margin in a men’s or women’s final since 1972.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 7, 2021
She adorns the measliest note with proud individuality, and in this recording caresses and enriches works ranging from Handel's Care selve through Weber's Leise, leise to Puccini's Senza mamma.
From Time Magazine Archive
“It’s the meanest, low-downest, dirtiest, measliest trick they’ve ever tried to do, and that’s sayin’ a whole heap!
From With Hoops of Steel by Smith, Dan
About the measliest shack there wuz in the country.
From Si Klegg, Book 2 (of 6) Thru The Stone River Campaign And In Winter Quarters At Murfreesboro by McElroy, John
Naw, sirree-bob!" was the impolite response across the fence, "them 'bout the measliest tales they is.
From Miss Minerva and William Green Hill by Calhoun, Frances Boyd
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.
