meagre
Syllables: mea·greUK/ˈmiːɡə//ˈmiːɡəɹ/
meagre noun: an edible fish, of species Argyrosomus regius, of the family Sciaenidae, found from the Black Sea to the eastern Atlantic.
Noun
meagre (plural meagres)
- An edible fish, of species Argyrosomus regius, of the family Sciaenidae, found from the Black Sea to the eastern Atlantic.
- 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) […] .1986, A. Wysokiński, The Living Marine Resources of the Southeast Atlantic, FAO Fisheries Technical Paper 178, page 48
- It is striking that these represent meagres (Argyrosomus regius), a species never mentioned in classical texts.2008, Arturo Morales-Muñes, Eufrasia Roselló-Izquierdo, “11: Twenty Thousand Years of Fishing in the Strait”, in Torben C. Rick, Jon M. Erlandson, editors, Human Impacts on Ancient Marine Ecosystems...
- Synonyms:
- salmon-basse, shadefish, stone basse
Adjective
meagre (comparative meagrer, superlative meagrest)
- Having little flesh; lean; thin.
- […]meagre were his looks; / Sharp misery had worn him to the bones:c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
- Deficient or inferior in amount, quality or extent
- Nothing will grow in this meagre soil.
- He was given a meagre piece of cake that he swallowed in one bite.
- Synonyms:
- paltry, scanty, inadequate
- Of a set: such that, considered as a subset of a (usually larger) topological space, it is in a precise sense small or negligible.
- Dry and harsh to the touch (e.g., as chalk).
Verb
meagre (third-person singular simple present meagres, present participle meagring, simple past and past participle meagred)
- To make lean.
- I am meagred to a skeleton; my nose is broiled to flaming heat, and I am suffering the greatest inconvenience from the loss of my baggage which I fear the enemy have taken with my servant at Konigsberg.1862, Robert Thomas Wilson, edited by Herbert Randolph, Life of General Sir Robert Wilson, page 275
meagre meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada
meagre in Tamil
- குறைவாயுள்ள
meagre in Urdu
- بانجھ, بہت کم, چھوٹا, دبلا, کم, ناکافی
meagre in Malayalam
- ശുഷ്കിച്ച, അല്പമായ, ഫലപുഷ്ടിയില്ലാത്ത, മെലിഞ്ഞ
meagre in Kannada
- ತೀರಾಕಡಮೆಯಾದ, ಅತ್ಯಲ್ಪವಾದ, ಸಾಕಷ್ಟಿರದ, ಅಲ್ಪಪ್ರಮಾಣದ, ನಿಸ್ಸಾರ, ಸಾರವಿಲ್ಲದ
Examples of meagre in a sentence
- Meagres (Argyrosomus regius, 230 cm, 103 kg) have been raised mainly in Spain, France and Italy.2011, John S. Lucas, Paul C. Southgate, Aquaculture: Farming Aquatic Animals and Plants, unnumbered page:
- It is hardly surprising, therefore, that the present rail passenger service is meagre and between Wetherby and Church Fenton almost non-existent.1961 February, D. Bertram, “The lines to Wetherby and their traffic”, in Trains Illustrated, page 103:
- Until the recent rash of North London line maps appeared on station billboards in the London area of BR, the service undoubtedly suffered from meagre and ineffectual publicity.1964 July, “News and Comment: The Broad Street-Richmond line”, in Modern Railways, page 17:
Synonyms of meagre
- salmon-basse
- shadefish
- stone basse
- paltry
- scanty
- inadequate
Forms of meagre
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | meagres |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | meagrer |
| superlative | meagrest |
| alternative form | meager |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | meagres |
| present participle | meagring |
| past participle | meagred |
| past | meagred |
Origin of meagre
From Middle French maigre.
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”).
Words formed from meagre
- brown meagre
- comeagre
- meagrely
- meagreness
Phrases with meagre
Words that rhyme with meagre
Questions about meagre
- What does meagre mean?
- Meagre means an edible fish, of species Argyrosomus regius, of the family Sciaenidae, found from the Black Sea to the eastern Atlantic.
- What is meagre in Tamil?
- Meagre in Tamil is குறைவாயுள்ள. See Meagre meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use meagre in a sentence?
- Meagres (Argyrosomus regius, 230 cm, 103 kg) have been raised mainly in Spain, France and Italy.
- What part of speech is meagre?
- Meagre can be a noun, an adjective or a verb.
- How do you pronounce meagre?
- Meagre is pronounced /ˈmiːɡəɹ/ (US).
- What is the plural of meagre?
- The plural of meagre is meagres.
Words near meagre in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: meagre (page history and authors); meagre (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); meagre (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); meagre (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); meagre (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-meagre.ogg.
Cite this entry: “meagre.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/meagre. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.