exiguous

exiguous
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 looks; Sharp misery had worn him to the bones. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

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; as, meager resources; meager fare. Opposite of {ample}. [WordNet sense 1] [Narrower terms: {exiguous}] [Narrower terms: {hardscrabble, marginal}] [Narrower terms: {measly, miserable, paltry}] ``Meager soil.'' --Dryden.

Syn: meagre, meagerly, scanty. [1913 Webster]

Of secular habits and meager religious belief. --I. Taylor. [1913 Webster]

His education had been but meager. --Motley. [1913 Webster]

3. (Min.) Dry and harsh to the touch, as chalk. [1913 Webster]

4. less than a desirable amount; -- of items distributed from a larger supply. [WordNet sense 2]

Syn: scrimpy, skimpy, skimping. [WordNet 1.5]

Syn: Thin; lean; lank; gaunt; starved; hungry; poor; emaciated; scanty; barren. [1913 Webster]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.

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  • Exiguous — Ex*ig u*ous, a. [L. exiguus.] Scanty; small; slender; diminutive. [R.] Exiguous resources. Carlyle. {Ex*ig uous*ness}, n. [R.] [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • exiguous — index minimal, slight Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • exiguous — scanty, 1650s, from L. exiguus small, petty, paltry, scanty in measure or number, from exigere (see EXACT (Cf. exact)) …   Etymology dictionary

  • exiguous — *meager, scant, scanty, skimpy, scrimpy, spare, sparse Analogous words: diminutive, tiny, *small, little: tenuous, slender, slight, *thin: limited, restricted, confined (see LIMIT vb) Antonyms: capacious, ample …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • exiguous — [adj] scanty bare, confined, diminutive, inadequate, limited, little, meager, narrow, negligible, paltry, petty, poor, restricted, skimpy, slender, slight, small, spare, sparse, tenuous, thin, tiny; concepts 771,789 Ant. plenty …   New thesaurus

  • exiguous — ► ADJECTIVE formal ▪ very small. ORIGIN Latin exiguus scanty …   English terms dictionary

  • exiguous — [eg zig′yo͞o əs, igzig′yo͞o əs] adj. [L exiguus, small < exigere: see EXACT] scanty; little; small; meager exiguity [ek΄sə gyo͞o′ə tē] n …   English World dictionary

  • exiguous — exigent, exiguous Neither word is common in ordinary usage and both are marked ‘formal’ in the COD (2006). Both are related to Latin exigere in its two meanings ‘to enforce payment of’ and ‘to weigh exactly’. Exigent corresponds to the first of… …   Modern English usage

  • exiguous — adjective Etymology: Latin exiguus, from exigere Date: 1651 excessively scanty ; inadequate < wrest an exiguous existence from the land > < exiguous evidence > • exiguously adverb • exiguousness noun …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • exiguous — exiguity /ek si gyooh i tee/, exiguousness, n. exiguously, adv. /ig zig yooh euhs, ik sig /, adj. scanty; meager; small; slender: exiguous income. [1645 55; < L exiguus scanty in measure or number, small, equiv. to exig(ere) (see EXIGENT) + uus… …   Universalium

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