Webster's English Dictionary

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meager

mea.ger or mea.gre \'me--g*r\ aj [ME megre, fr. MF maigre, fr. L macr-, 
   macer lean; akin] to OE mger lean, Gk makros long 1: having little 
   flesh : THIN  2: lacking richness, strength, or comparable qualities : 
   MEAGER implies lack of fullness, richness, or plenty; SCANTY implies 
   insufficiency in quantity, degree, or extent; SCANT suggests a deficiency 
   in amount or quanity of something desired or desirable often in consequence 
   of deliberate withholding; EXIGUOUS implies a marked deficiency in number 
   or measure; SPARE may suggest a slight falling short of adequacy or merely 
   an absence of superfluity; SPARSE implies a thin scattering of units esp. 
   where density or plenty is desirable - mea.ger.ly av SYN syn SCANTY, SCANT, 
   EXIGUOUS, SPARE, SPARSE