ETYM Old Eng. merge, French maigre, Latin macer; akin to Dutch and German mager, Icel. magr, and prob. to Greek makros long. Related to Emaciate, Maigre.
1. Barely adequate; SYN. scrimpy.
2. Deficient in amount or quality or extent; SYN. meagre, meagerly.
bare · deficient · exiguous · hand-to-mouth · hardscrabble · insufficient · marginal · meagerly · meagre · measly · miserable · paltry · scanty · scarce · scrimpy · spare · stingy