exiguous

[ ig-zig-yoo-uhs, ik-sig- ]

adjective

1. scanty; meager; small; slender:

   exiguous income.

exiguous

/ ˌɛksɪˈɡjuːɪtɪ; ɪkˈsɪɡ-; ɪɡˈzɪɡjʊəs /

adjective

1. scanty or slender; meagre

   an exiguous income

Derived Forms

• exiguity, noun
• exˈiguously, adverb

Other Words From

• ex·i·gu·i·ty [ek-si-, gyoo, -i-tee], ex·igu·ous·ness noun
• ex·igu·ous·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of exiguous¹

First recorded in 1645–55; from Latin exiguus “scanty in measure or number, small,” equivalent to exig(ere) “to drive out, measure, exact” + -uus adjective suffix; exigent, -ous ( def )

Word History and Origins

Origin of exiguous¹

C17: from Latin exiguus, from exigere to weigh out; see exigent

Example Sentences

The result of the court’s linguistic analysis is an exiguous textual opinion based on parsing dictionaries instead of a functional understanding even minimally consistent with basic science.

From Slate

Though she shares her exiguous palette with other leading figurative painters, notably Luc Tuymans and Marlene Dumas, Ms. Otto-Knapp is a more emotionally complex artist than those reliably gloomy artists.

From New York Times

Leaving an exiguous forecourt — the equivalent of a front yard, generally used to wash and dry clothes — you take a big step over a wooden sill into a rectangular living room decorated with blackwood furniture and period photographs and paintings.

From New York Times

Walking the 1.5 miles to the closest wild beach — several beaches are stacked one after the other, with increasingly exiguous trails linking them — something takes me back to a walnut forest I hiked around in Kyrgyzstan.

From Washington Post

Now in its 84th impression in Spanish, it remains a fixture on the exiguous shelves devoted to Latin America in bookshops in Europe and the United States.

From Economist