meagerest
Least in quantity
Meagerest is the superlative form of meager, describing what is most deficient, scanty, or inadequate among options being compared.
Where meager suggests insufficiency, meagerest marks the extreme: Even the meagerest portions were fought over.
The spelling meagrest also appears, and British English prefers meagre.
Barely adequate amount
- paltryContemptibly meager
- deficientHaving too little
- inadequateNot sufficient for purpose
- lackingBeing without something
sparse · scanty · skimpy · slight · thin · bare · limited · scarce
Lean from deprivation
- skeletalOf or like bones
- wastedUsed without good result
- thinSmall in diameter
- bonyThin, with protruding skeleton
scrawny · undernourished · malnourished · starved · haggard · famished · hollow · pinched
Severely simple and unadorned
- spartanRigorously simple, unadorned
- bareLacking any covering
- unadornedLacking decoration or ornament
- simpleFree of complexity
stark · ascetic · frugal · monastic · stripped · essential · pared-down · restrained
Extreme poverty, lacking necessities
- penuryExtreme lack of money
- indigenceExtreme poverty, total want
- deprivationState of lacking necessities
- impoverishmentState of extreme deprivation
pauperism · want · hardship · privation · neediness · squalor · subsistence · underprivileged
scant
Barely adequate amount
- paltryContemptibly meager
- deficientHaving too little
- inadequateNot sufficient for purpose
lacking · sparse · scanty · skimpy · slight · thin · bare · limited · scarce · wanting
gaunt
Lean from deprivation
bony · scrawny · undernourished · malnourished · starved · haggard · famished · hollow · pinched · drawn
austere
Severely simple and unadorned
simple · stark · ascetic · frugal · monastic · stripped · essential · pared-down · restrained · lean
destitution
Extreme poverty, lacking necessities
- penuryExtreme lack of money
- indigenceExtreme poverty, total want
- deprivationState of lacking necessities
impoverishment · pauperism · want · hardship · privation · neediness · squalor · subsistence · underprivileged · disadvantaged