Standard Lemma guide

measly

adj · 4 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.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈmiːzli/
  • General-American: /ˈmizli/
  • Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -iːzli
  • CMU ARPABET: M IY1 Z L IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Particularly of pigs or pork: infected with larval tapeworms or trichinae (parasitic roundworms).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Of a person: infected with measles.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adj

Meaning 3

Small (especially contemptibly small) in amount.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: figuratively, informal

Examples

  • For one whole day's work all I was given was twenty measly pounds.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: miserable, paltry, trifling

Antonyms: none provided

4

adjective satellite

Meaning 4

contemptibly small in amount

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a measly tip
  • the company donated a miserable $100 for flood relief
  • a paltry wage
  • almost depleted his miserable store of dried beans

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: miserable, paltry

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From measle (“singular of measles”) + -y; the word measle is either from Middle Dutch masel (“a blister filled with blood; a pustule, a skin blemish”), or Middle Low German masel (“a red skin blemish”), from Proto-Germanic *masuraz (“a knot or scar in wood; a knarl”), from *mas-, *mēs- (“a spot; a sore; a scar”), from Proto-Indo-European *mos- (“a skin sore”).

Across languages

Translations

13 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Czech: ubohý — small in amount
  • Czech: mizerný — small in amount
  • German: mickrig — small in amount
  • Polish: marny — small in amount
  • Polish: mizerny — small in amount
  • Polish: nędzny — small in amount
  • Russian: жа́лкий (žálkij) — small in amount
  • Russian: ничто́жный (ničtóžnyj) — small in amount
  • Russian: мизерный (mizernyj) — small in amount
  • Spanish: miserable — small in amount
  • Spanish: mísero — small in amount
  • Swedish: ynklig — small in amount
  • Swedish: futtig — small in amount