How to Use meager in a Sentence

meager

adjective
  • We'll have to do the best we can with this year's meager harvest.
  • Every morning he eats a meager breakfast of toast and coffee.
  • They suffered through several meager years at the beginning of their marriage.
  • Although she's now rich and famous, she remembers her meager beginnings as a child from a poor family.
  • She came to this country with a fairly meager English vocabulary, but she is learning more words every day.
  • All with a meager frame and build.
    — Joshua Kloke, New York Times, 13 Jan. 2026
  • Still, for all the hope and ideas, so far the fruits have been meager.
    — Tamar Jacoby, Forbes, 26 Nov. 2024
  • And maybe a small cash handout that helps a meager few.
    — Jonathan Lansner, Oc Register, 23 Jan. 2026
  • Maria tries on a scarf that’s too costly for her meager salary.
    — Los Angeles Times, 10 Dec. 2021
  • But wee moons, it was thought, should have lost their meager embers long ago.
    — Robin George Andrews, Scientific American, 7 Feb. 2024
  • As a team, 18 turnovers and a meager three steals were more telling stats.
    — J.l. Kirven, The Indianapolis Star, 5 June 2021
  • Even the gift bags were meager compared with what was given to the men.
    — New York Times, 15 Mar. 2022
  • Or when the contest draws a meager four players in all, none a big star.
    — Miami Herald, 17 Feb. 2026
  • Activists are less than impressed at the still-meager amount.
    — David Meyer, Fortune, 22 Sep. 2021
  • This comes as some storms with lightning and meager amounts of rain pass by the region.
    — Ian Livingston, Washington Post, 6 June 2023
  • So, on a good night, do tips, which can boost a musician’s meager wages.
    — Washington Post, 9 Mar. 2022
  • The guests’ meager belongings were laid out in rows.
    — Gigi Leung, Time, 20 Dec. 2025
  • Supplies of salt, food, and water were meager.
    — Literary Hub, 7 Nov. 2025
  • The same tool shows the odds of a rate cut on Wednesday at a meager 5%.
    — Max Zahn, ABC News, 31 July 2024
  • But the meager total so far is not a cause for panic, experts say.
    — Ethan Varian, The Mercury News, 20 Jan. 2024
  • But thus far the steps to address it at a systemic level have been meager.
    — Matthew Duss, The New Republic, 1 June 2023
  • Of course, a dry winter will result in meager flows in spring and summer.
    — Steven R. Fassnacht, The Conversation, 27 July 2021
  • Their largest source of income tends to be the meager legislative salary.
    — Rex Nelson, Arkansas Online, 6 Dec. 2020
  • In either scenario, the odds of moving up would be meager, to say the least.
    — Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 25 Mar. 2026
  • And the effect on illicit flows is, at best, meager.
    — Angélica Durán-Martínez, The Conversation, 24 Feb. 2026
  • The magnitude of the bonus is also rather meager.
    — Joe Wilkins Published Jan 22, Futurism, 22 Jan. 2026
  • That meager pile of money shrinks more once venues carve out their take, which leads to artists raising the price of merch.
    — Nina Corcoran, Pitchfork, 1 Nov. 2023
  • Two-and-a-half hours later, 18 cars would be crammed into its meager lot.
    — Daniel McFadin, Arkansas Online, 3 Sep. 2023
  • The story opens as the twins are living a meager life in the Northeast.
    — Pamela McClintock, HollywoodReporter, 8 Aug. 2025
  • Despite the meager job growth, salaries continued to rise.
    — Jeff Cox, CNBC, 5 Nov. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'meager.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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