meager
pronunciation
How to pronounce meager in British English:
UK [ˈmiːgə]
How to pronounce meager in American English:
US [ˈmigər]
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- Adjective:
- deficient in amount or quality or extent
- barely adequate
Word Origin
- meager (adj.)
- late 14c. (late 12c. as a surname), "lean, thin, emaciated" (of persons or animals), from Old French megre, maigre "thin" (12c.), from Latin macrum (nominative macer) "lean, thin" (source of Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian magro), from PIE *makro- (see macro-). Of material things (land, food, etc.) from early 15c. Cognate Germanic words (Old Norse magr "thin," Old High German magar, German mager, Middle Dutch magher, Dutch mager, Old English mæger) come directly from the PIE root via Proto-Germanic *magras and are not from Latin.
Example
- 1. Other elderly people resort to petty theft to increase their meager purchasing power .
- 2. Sooner or later investors will face either a loss of money , or at best meager returns .
- 3. After they reject the government 's compensation as too meager , a dark campaign of harassment ensues .
- 4. He was very good to me gave me some research work to supplement my meager income and invited me to his house for dinner .
- 5. Now , they live off the meager earnings brought in by the shepherd 's wife , who works as an apartment guard in the building where the family is living .