exiguous
adj/ɪɡˈzɪ.ɡju.əs/ · /ɛɡˈzɪ.ɡju.əs/
Etymology From Latin exiguus (“strict, exact”), from exigere (“to measure against a standard”).
1
Scanty; meager.
- The herdboy in the broom, already musical in the days of Father Chaucer, startles (and perhaps pains) the lark with this exiguous pipe.1889, Robert Louis Stevenson, The Wrong Box ch XIII:
- The path on which I then planted my feet was quite unprecedentedly narrow. I had never had to walk along a thoroughfare so exiguous.1912, G. K. Chesterton, Manalive ch VII:
3 more examples
- They are entering the market, setting up stalls on snowy streets, moonlighting to supplement exiguous incomes.1998 February 6, Michael Ignatieff, “Rebirth of a Nation: An Anatomy of Russia”, in New Statesman:
- Among the pressures provoking these distresses were a father's financial inadequacy and a growing awareness that, by finding employment himself, he could ameliorate the family's exiguous circumstances.2001, Terence Brown, The Life of W. B. Yeats: A Critical Biography:
- 2012 — Rodger Cohen, Scottexalonia Rising, New York Times, Nov. 26., Op. Ed. National politics, as President François Hollande of France is only the latest to discover, is often no more than tweaking at the margins in the exiguous political space left by markets and other global forces.
- Derived terms
- exiguate, exiguity, exiguously, exiguousness, unexiguous
- Related terms
- exigency