Standard Lemma guide

meagre

adj · noun · verb · 7 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈmiːɡɚ/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -iːɡə(ɹ)

1

adj

Meaning 1

Having little flesh; lean; thin.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Canada, UK, common

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Deficient or inferior in amount, quality or extent

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Canada, UK, common

Examples

  • Nothing will grow in this meagre soil.
  • He was given a meagre piece of cake that he swallowed in one bite.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: paltry, scanty, inadequate

Antonyms: none provided

3

adj

Meaning 3

Of a set: such that, considered as a subset of a (usually larger) topological space, it is in a precise sense small or negligible.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Canada, UK, common

Topics: mathematics, sciences, set-theory

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

adj

Meaning 4

Dry and harsh to the touch (e.g., as chalk).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Canada, UK, common

Topics: chemistry, geography, geology, mineralogy, natural-sciences, physical-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

An edible fish, of species Argyrosomus regius, of the family Sciaenidae, found from the Black Sea to the eastern Atlantic.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • 1986, A. Wysokiński, The Living Marine Resources of the Southeast Atlantic, FAO Fisheries Technical Paper 178, page 48, Among more valuable species some of them are worth mentioning, especially littoral forms as: meagres and other croakers (Sciaenidae), grunters (Pomadasyidae), threadfins (Polynemidae), groupers (Serranidae), snappers (Lutjanidae) [...] .

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

verb

Meaning 6

To make lean.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Canada, UK, common, transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

7

adjective

Meaning 7

deficient in amount or quality or extent

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • meager resources
  • meager fare

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: meager, meagerly, stingy, scrimpy

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Middle English megre, borrowed from Anglo-Norman megre, Old French maigre, from Latin macer, macrum, from Proto-Indo-European *mh2ḱrós. Cognate with Old English mæġer (“meagre, lean”), Dutch mager (“lean”), German mager (“lean”), Icelandic magur (“lean”).

From Middle French maigre.

Across languages

Translations

52 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Breton: treut — having little flesh; lean; thin
  • Bulgarian: слаб (slab) — having little flesh; lean; thin
  • Bulgarian: мършав (mǎršav) — having little flesh; lean; thin
  • French: maigre — having little flesh; lean; thin
  • Galician: magro — having little flesh; lean; thin
  • Italian: magro — having little flesh; lean; thin
  • Italian: magra — having little flesh; lean; thin
  • Māori: kōhoka — having little flesh; lean; thin
  • Māori: kōhoi — having little flesh; lean; thin
  • Russian: худо́й (xudój) — having little flesh; lean; thin
  • Russian: то́щий (tóščij) — having little flesh; lean; thin
  • Spanish: escuálido — having little flesh; lean; thin
  • Spanish: enjuto — having little flesh; lean; thin
  • Walloon: maigue — having little flesh; lean; thin
  • Bulgarian: оскъден (oskǎden) — deficient or inferior in amount, quality or extent; paltry; scanty; inadequate; unsatisfying
  • Bulgarian: беден (beden) — deficient or inferior in amount, quality or extent; paltry; scanty; inadequate; unsatisfying
  • Galician: magro — deficient or inferior in amount, quality or extent; paltry; scanty; inadequate; unsatisfying
  • Italian: scarno — deficient or inferior in amount, quality or extent; paltry; scanty; inadequate; unsatisfying
  • Italian: esiguo — deficient or inferior in amount, quality or extent; paltry; scanty; inadequate; unsatisfying
  • Māori: kōhoka — deficient or inferior in amount, quality or extent; paltry; scanty; inadequate; unsatisfying
  • Russian: скудный (skudnyj) — deficient or inferior in amount, quality or extent; paltry; scanty; inadequate; unsatisfying
  • Russian: бе́дный (bédnyj) — deficient or inferior in amount, quality or extent; paltry; scanty; inadequate; unsatisfying
  • Russian: недоста́точный (nedostátočnyj) — deficient or inferior in amount, quality or extent; paltry; scanty; inadequate; unsatisfying
  • Spanish: exiguo — deficient or inferior in amount, quality or extent; paltry; scanty; inadequate; unsatisfying
  • Ukrainian: мізе́рний (mizérnyj) — deficient or inferior in amount, quality or extent; paltry; scanty; inadequate; unsatisfying
  • Ukrainian: убо́гий (ubóhyj) — deficient or inferior in amount, quality or extent; paltry; scanty; inadequate; unsatisfying
  • Asturian: corvina — Argyrosomus regius
  • Asturian: roballiza — Argyrosomus regius
  • Bulgarian: сребрист горбил (srebrist gorbil) — Argyrosomus regius
  • Catalan: reig — Argyrosomus regius
  • Chinese Mandarin: 大西洋白姑魚 /大西洋白姑鱼 (Dàxīyáng báigūyú) — Argyrosomus regius
  • Czech: smuha královská — Argyrosomus regius
  • Danish: almindelig ørnefisk — Argyrosomus regius
  • Dutch: ombervis — Argyrosomus regius
  • Estonian: kotkaskala — Argyrosomus regius
  • Finnish: kotkakala — Argyrosomus regius
  • French: maigre — Argyrosomus regius
  • Galician: corvina — Argyrosomus regius
  • German: Adlerfisch — Argyrosomus regius
  • Hungarian: sashal — Argyrosomus regius
  • Irish: scáiliasc Atlantach — Argyrosomus regius
  • Italian: bocca d'oro — Argyrosomus regius
  • Norwegian Bokmål: ørnefisk — Argyrosomus regius
  • Polish: kulbin — Argyrosomus regius
  • Polish: orłoryb — Argyrosomus regius
  • Portuguese: corvina — Argyrosomus regius
  • Russian: обыкнове́нный серебри́стый горбы́ль (obyknovénnyj serebrístyj gorbýlʹ) — Argyrosomus regius
  • Serbo-Croatian: хама — Argyrosomus regius
  • Serbo-Croatian: hama — Argyrosomus regius
  • Spanish: corvina — Argyrosomus regius
  • Swedish: havsgös — Argyrosomus regius
  • Welsh: drymiwr — Argyrosomus regius