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Synonyms
meager
- 5 dictionary resultsmea⋅ger
[mee-ger] 
–adjective
| 1. | deficient in quantity or quality; lacking fullness or richness; scanty; inadequate: a meager salary; meager fare; a meager harvest. |
| 2. | having little flesh; lean; thin: a body meager with hunger. |
| 3. | maigre. |
Also, especially British, meagre.
Origin:
1300–50; ME megre < OF maigre < L macer lean
1300–50; ME megre < OF maigre < L macer lean
Related forms:
mea⋅ger⋅ly, adverb
mea⋅ger⋅ness, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To meager
| mea·ger also mea·gre (mē'gər) adj.
[Middle English megre, thin, from Old French, from Latin macer; see māk- in Indo-European roots.] mea'ger·ly adv., mea'ger·ness n. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Meager
Mea"ger\, Meagre \Mea"gre\, a. [OE. merge, F. maigre, L. macer; akin to D. & G. mager, Icel. magr, and prob. to Gr. ? long. Cf. Emaciate, Maigre.]1. Destitue of, or having little, flesh; lean. Meager were his looks; Sharp misery had worn him to the bones. --Shak. 2. Destitute of richness, fertility, strength, or the like; defective in quantity, or poor in quality; poor; barren; scanty in ideas; wanting strength of diction or affluence of imagery. "Meager soil." --Dryden. Of secular habits and meager religious belief. --I. Taylor. His education had been but meager. --Motley. 3. (Min.) Dry and harsh to the touch, as chalk. Syn: Thin; lean; lank; gaunt; starved; hungry; poor; emaciated; scanty; barren.Meager
Mea"ger\, Meagre \Mea"gre\, v. t. To make lean. [Obs.]
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : meager
Spanish:
escaso, pobre,
German:
dürftig,
Japanese:
貧弱な
meager
c.1300, "lean, thin, emaciated" (of persons or animals), from O.Fr. megre, maigre, from L. macrum (nom. macer) "lean, thin," from PIE *makro- (see macro-). Of material things (land, food, etc.) from 1501.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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