MEAGERLY

meager, meagre, meagerly, stingy, scrimpy

(adjective) deficient in amount or quality or extent; “meager resources”; “meager fare”

meagerly, sparingly, slenderly, meagrely

(adverb) to a meager degree or in a meager manner; “these voices are meagerly represented at the conference”; “the area is slenderly endowed with natural resources”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Adverb

meagerly (comparative more meagerly, superlative most meagerly)

In a meager way; poorly; inadequately.

Anagrams

• meagrely

Source: Wiktionary

Mea"ger*ly, Mea"gre*ly, adv.

Definition: Poorly; thinly.

MEAGER

Mea"ger, Mea"gre, a. Etym: [OE. merge, F. maigre, L. macer; akin to D. & G. mager, Icel. magr, and prob. to Gr. 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.)

Definition: Dry and harsh to the touch, as chalk.

Syn.

– Thin; lean; lank; gaunt; starved; hungry; poor; emaciated; scanty; barren.

Mea"ger, Mea"gre, v. t.

Definition: To make lean. [Obs.]

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition