What does meagreness mean?
Meagreness is a formal noun meaning the state of being insufficiently provided or unusually thin and spare. Its most common application describes a lack of food, money, or resources: the meagreness of a household's income, a region's harvests, or an institution's funding. It can also describe physical thinness, particularly when this condition is associated with poverty or hunger. The word has a serious, often critical tone and suggests deprivation rather than a naturally lean or modest state. In older writing, it frequently appeared in accounts of famine, poverty, and austere living. Today, although the adjective meager is still common in formal English, the abstract noun meagreness sounds somewhat old-fashioned and is chosen mainly for an emphatic or literary effect.
nounThe quality of being meager, especially the condition of having an inadequate or insufficient supply of food, money, or other resources. It can also refer to thinness or sparseness.
- Scarcity or inadequacy of food, money, resources, or other necessities.
- Thinness or leanness, especially when suggesting poverty or deprivation.
"The meagreness of the supplies made the journey difficult."
"The report described the meagreness of the village's medical facilities."
"Years of hardship had left the cattle in a state of utter meagreness."
A rare plural in ordinary use, attested especially in formal or literary contexts.
"The novel portrays the meagrenesses of life in the settlement."
In a word associated with thin diets and empty purses, meagreness carries the double burden of physical thinness and material want.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does meagreness come from?
Meagreness was formed in English by adding the suffix -ness to the adjective meager. That adjective came through Old French maigre from Latin macer, meaning lean or thin, and is related to words such as macerate and emaciate. The British spelling meagreness reflects the traditional British form meagre, while American English generally uses meager.
Related word forms
How meagreness is actually used
A formal and relatively uncommon noun, especially in contemporary American English. It is more often encountered in literary, historical, or economic contexts than in everyday speech.
Easily confused with meagreness
Lean can describe a person or animal that is thin and may also mean without excess, whereas meagreness is an abstract noun for thinness, poverty, or insufficiency.