meager

meager
I
(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)
adj. spare, scanty, sparse, poor; lean, gaunt. See insufficiency, narrowness.
II
(Roget's IV) modif.
1. [Thin]
Syn. lank, lanky, gaunt, starved, emaciated, lean, bony, slender, slim, spare, little, sparing, bare, scant, stinted, lacking, wanting, niggard, scraggy, scrawny, withered, wandlike, willowlike, willowy, lithe, narrow, tenuous, slightly-made, skinny, weedy*, peaked; see also thin 2 , 4 .
Ant. fat*, plump, stout.
2. [Scanty]
Syn. scanty, short, deficient, insufficient; see inadequate 1 , scanty , wanting .
See Synonym Study at scanty .
III
(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) a.
scanty, sparse, scarce, thin, bare, lean, insufficient, inadequate, poor, lacking, skimpy.
ANT.: plentiful, abundant
IV
(Roget's Thesaurus II) adjective 1. Conspicuously deficient in quantity, fullness, or extent: exiguous, poor, puny, scant, scanty, skimpy, spare, sparse, stingy, thin. Slang: measly. See BIG, EXCESS. 2. Having little flesh or fat on the body: angular, bony, fleshless, gaunt, lank, lanky, lean2, rawboned, scrawny, skinny, slender, slim, spare, thin, twiggy, weedy. Idioms: all skin and bones, thin as a rail. See FAT.

English dictionary for students. 2013.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • meager — meager, scanty, scant, skimpy, scrimpy, exiguous, spare, sparse are comparable when they mean so small (as in amount, number, or size) as to fall short of what is normal, necessary, or desirable. Meager stresses thinness: as applied to persons or …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • Meager — Mea ger, Meagre Mea gre, a. [OE. merge, F. maigre, L. macer; akin to D. & G. mager, Icel. magr, and prob. to Gr. makro s long. Cf. {Emaciate}, {Maigre}.] [1913 Webster] 1. Destitue of, or having little, flesh; lean. [1913 Webster] Meager were his …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Meager — or Meagre (see American and British English spelling differences) can refer to: Meagre set (also meager set) in mathematics Mount Meager (also Mount Meagre, Mount Meagher) in British Columbia, Canada Meager Creek, a creek in British Columbia,… …   Wikipedia

  • meager — [mē′gər] adj. [ME megre < OFr megre (Fr maigre) < L macer, lean, thin < IE * makro < base * māk , long and thin > Gr makros, long, OE mæger, meager] 1. thin; lean; emaciated 2. of poor quality or small amount; not full or rich;… …   English World dictionary

  • meager — [adj1] small, inadequate; poor bare, barren, deficient, exiguous, flimsy, inappreciable, inconsiderable, infertile, insubstantial, insufficient, little, mere, minimum, miserable, paltry, puny, scant, scanty, scrimp, scrimpy, shabby, short, skimp …   New thesaurus

  • Meager — Mea ger, Meagre Mea gre, v. t. To make lean. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • meager — index de minimus, deficient, inappreciable, inconsiderable, insufficient, marginal, mediocre, minimal …   Law dictionary

  • meager — (adj.) late 14c. (late 12c. as a surname), lean, thin, emaciated (of persons or animals), from O.Fr. megre, maigre thin (12c.), from L. macrum (nom. macer) lean, thin (source of Sp., Port., It. magro), from PIE *makro (see MACRO (Cf. macro )). Of …   Etymology dictionary

  • meager — or meagre adjective Etymology: Middle English megre, from Anglo French megre, meigre, from Latin macr , macer lean; akin to Old English mæger lean, Greek makros long Date: 14th century 1. having little flesh ; thin 2. a. lacking desirable… …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • meager — meagerly, adv. meagerness, n. /mee geuhr/, adj. 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.… …   Universalium

  • meager — adjective 1) their meager earnings Syn: inadequate, scanty, scant, paltry, limited, restricted, modest, insufficient, sparse, deficient, negligible, skimpy, slender, poor, miserable, pitiful, puny …   Thesaurus of popular words

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”