meager
/ˈmiɡɚ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.05 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Of a set: such that, considered as a subset of a (usually larger) topological space, it is in a precise sense small or negligible.
Canadian usage; American usage
Example Sentences
- "A meager piece of cake in one bite."
- "The street outside my window furnishes meager entertainment."
- "...that begets many ugly and deformed phantasies in the braine, which being also hot and drie in the second extenuates and makes meager the body extraordinarily, ..."
- "Nor none of thee thou pale and common drudge tween man and man: but thou, thou meager lead which rather threatnest then dost promise ought..."
- "Making the run from Taipei to Panchiao every day to sell the gold-colored paper, he scraped together a meager livelihood."
Etymology
From Middle English megre, from Anglo-Norman megre, Old French maigre, from Latin macer, from Proto-Indo-European *mh₂ḱrós. Akin, through the Indo-European root, to Old English mæġer (“meager, lean”), West Frisian meager (“meager”), Dutch mager (“meager”), German mager, Old Norse magr whence the Icelandic magur, Norwegian Bokmål mager and Danish mager. Doublet of maigre.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈmiɡɚ/
- British English: /ˈmiːɡə/
Usage
- Canadian usage
- American usage
- Transitive verb