meagre

meagre — adjective

1. used to describe an amount, number, or portion that is surprisingly small and fa

1.adjectiveB2
Definition

used to describe an amount, number, or portion that is surprisingly small and fails to provide what people need or expect.

Example

Femi earned a meagre salary at the small hotel, barely enough for rent.

collocation: meagre salary

The refugees survived on meagre portions of rice and a few beans each day.

Common collocations
  • meagre salary
  • meagre income
  • meagre wage
  • meagre portion
  • meagre amount
  • meagre harvest
  • meagre profit
  • meagre budget
  • meagre diet
  • meagre resources
Synonyms
  • scant

    focuses on barely reaching a minimum, often used with measurements ('a scant cup of flour'); slightly more formal than meagre.

  • sparse

    describes thin distribution across an area ('sparse population'); not used for abstract amounts like salary.

  • paltry

    more contemptuous than meagre — suggests the small amount is insulting or unfair ('a paltry offer').

Antonyms
  • ample

    means more than enough, the direct opposite of meagre insufficiency.

  • generous

    describes portions or amounts that are satisfyingly large.

Grammar Patterns

meagre + noun

Usage Note

This sense is almost always used before a noun (attributive position). The word carries a critical or disappointed tone — it implies the amount is not just small but disappointingly insufficient.

Common Mistakes

The salary was very meagre and low.
The salary was meagre.
'meagre' already communicates insufficiency; do not add 'very' or 'low' as intensifiers in formal writing.
The portions were meagre small.
The portions were meagre.
'meagre' is an adjective; do not add 'small' as a redundant modifier.

2. not as rich, strong, full, or substantial as something of its type should normal

2.adjectiveB2
Definition

not as rich, strong, full, or substantial as something of its type should normally be.

Example

The hotel served a meagre breakfast of dry bread and instant coffee.

collocation: meagre meal / breakfast

The soil on Élise's hillside plot was too meagre to grow vegetables.

pattern: too meagre to + infinitive

Common collocations
  • meagre meal
  • meagre breakfast
  • meagre soil
  • meagre furniture
  • meagre collection
  • meagre offering
  • meagre resources
Synonyms
  • sparse

    focuses on thin distribution; often used for vegetation, hair, furniture, or audiences.

  • thin

    more general and less formal; can describe soup, air, or excuses.

  • bare

    suggests something stripped of extras or luxuries ('a bare room').

Antonyms
  • rich

    describes something full, deep, or abundant in quality ('rich soil', 'a rich meal').

  • substantial

    means large in amount or quality; the opposite of meagre and thin.

Grammar Patterns

meagre + noun

too meagre + to-infinitive

Usage Note

Describes concrete things that should be rich or substantial — a meal, soil, furniture, a collection, a performance — but turn out disappointingly thin or bare. Less common than sense 1 and typically used in predicative position after 'be' or 'find'.

Common Mistakes

The meal was meagre and not tasty.
The meal was meagre
just dry bread and water.' — 'meagre' means lacking in richness or substance, not simply 'not tasty.' Describe what is missing to make the meaning clear.

Word family

  • meagrely
    adverbB2
  • meagreness
    nounC1
  • emaciated
    adjectiveC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

All four words describe something falling short of a desirable amount, but they differ in tone and typical contexts. Meagre is the most neutral yet critical of the group — it simply says the amount is too small to meet a need, without additional emotional colour. A meagre salary is disappointing but not insulting. Scant adds a sense of barely reaching a minimum threshold. It often pairs with specific measurements ('a scant two hours of sunlight') and feels slightly more formal and objective than meagre. Sparse describes thin distribution over a space rather than a small total. A sparse crowd is thinly scattered across a room, not necessarily a small number of people. You would not say 'a sparse salary.' Paltry is the most contemptuous of the four. It suggests the small amount is unfair, insulting, or ridiculously low ('a paltry refund of three pounds'). Use paltry when you want to express moral outrage rather than factual insufficiency. Choosing between them: if the focus is on unmet need, use meagre. If on barely-measured minimums, use scant. If on thin distribution, use sparse. If on insulting unfairness, use paltry.

meagre ↗scantsparsepaltry ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • meagre resources
  • meagre existence
  • meagre living
  • meagre diet

Adverbs

  • comparatively meagre
  • increasingly meagre
  • rather meagre
  • somewhat meagre

Phrases

  • meagre at best

Prepositions

  • meagre by any standard
  • meagre in comparison

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

Meagre entered English in the Middle Ages from Anglo-Norman megre, which came from Old French maigre 'thin, lean.' That French word traces back to Latin macer, meaning 'lean, thin' — the same root gives us emaciated (extremely thin from starvation). The '-gre' spelling was influenced by Latin macer and possibly by Greek makros 'long,' though the two are not directly related. The original sense was literal thinness of body; the modern meanings of insufficient amount or poor quality developed by extension in the 1500s.