What does exiguously mean?
"Exiguously" is a formal English adverb meaning "in a scanty, meager, or barely sufficient manner." It derives from the adjective "exiguous," which comes from the Latin exiguus, meaning small or scanty — a word rooted in the verb exigere, "to drive out" or "to measure precisely," the same source as "exact" and "exigent." The adverb appears almost exclusively in elevated written registers: scholarly prose, literary criticism, and historical writing, where authors describe resources, evidence, populations, or spaces as exiguously supplied or exiguously distributed. Its tone is precise rather than emotional; it states insufficiency with a certain dry, bookish detachment, and it can carry a faintly ironic edge when applied to something grandly inadequate. Because the adjective "exiguous" vastly outnumbers the adverb in everyday usage, "exiguously" remains a genuinely uncommon word — useful to writers seeking an exacting, Latinate alternative to "meagerly" or "scantily." Readers who encounter it can safely gloss it as "barely, thinly, or insufficiently."
adverbIn an exiguous manner; in a way that is scanty, meager, or barely sufficient.
- In a scanty, meager, or barely sufficient manner; used chiefly to describe amounts, provisions, resources, or spaces that fall short of what is needed.
"The expedition was exiguously provisioned, forcing the team to ration every last supply."
"The settlement's records were exiguously kept, leaving historians with only fragments of its early years."
"Even the most exiguously furnished apartment felt generous after months in a tent."
Built from the same Latin root that gave us 'exact' and 'exigent', 'exiguously' describes the opposite of abundance — and it's so rare you may never hear it spoken aloud.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of exiguously
"Exiguously" derives from the adjective "exiguous," borrowed from Latin exiguus, meaning "small, scanty, or poor in quantity." Exiguus in turn comes from the Latin verb exigere, "to drive out, demand, or measure out exactly," which also produced English "exact" and "exigent." The adjective entered English in the early modern period, and the adverb was formed from it by standard derivation; both remain rare, learned words today.
Related word forms
How exiguously is actually used
Highly formal and literary; rare even in academic prose, where the adjective 'exiguous' is far more common. Carries a slightly bookish, sometimes ironic connotation of insufficiency.
Easily confused with exiguously
'Exponentially' describes rapid, explosive growth, whereas 'exiguously' describes something present in meager, insufficient amounts.
'Exiguity' is the noun naming the state of being scanty, while 'exiguously' is the adverb describing how something is done in a scanty manner.