Literary notes about Meager (AI summary)
"Meager" is frequently used in literature as an adjective that conveys insufficiency or a scant quality, whether referring to physical objects, resources, or even abstract concepts. It characterizes a sparse interior, as in unadorned furniture [1] or a sparse pathway disappearing into the distance [2]. The term is also applied to sums and incomes, emphasizing financial inadequacy through phrases like “meager salary” [3] and “meager income” [4]. Moreover, it extends beyond tangible items to describe emotions or essences, as with a “meager” spirit [5] or a life touched by inadequate provisions [6]. Thus, authors employ “meager” to evoke a range of meanings—from physical thinness and paucity to metaphorical emptiness—adding a layer of nuanced understatement to their work [7, 8, 9].
- The sagging old floors, though scrubbed and spotless, were uncarpeted; the furniture meager.
— from The Best Short Stories of 1917, and the Yearbook of the American Short Story - At times the meager pathway disappeared entirely.
— from The Furnace of Gold by Philip Verrill Mighels - It does not need argument to show that this meager salary forces a standard of living too low for efficiency.
— from New Ideals in Rural Schools by George Herbert Betts - The run-down estate of Newstead was yielding a meager income, but at Southwell one could be shabby and yet respectable.
— from Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great - Volume 05 Little Journeys to the Homes of English Authors by Elbert Hubbard - There was, indeed, something meager about Henry Adams’s soul, as there is something meager about a butterfly.
— from The Invisible Censor by Francis Hackett - I was silent with the deep thankfulness that God had sent such a woman into the world and into my meager life.
— from Lentala of the South Seas: The Romantic Tale of a Lost Colony by W. C. Morrow - The supper must necessarily be very meager.
— from The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne - He was a tall, meager man, who dragged one leg stiffly when he walked, dressed
— from The Reign of Greed by José Rizal - Miss Hoag fumbled for the switch, finally leaving the Baron to the meager comfort of his first-floor back.
— from Humoresque: A Laugh on Life with a Tear Behind It by Fannie Hurst
