| Main Entry: | |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | small, inadequate; poor |
| Synonyms: | bare, barren, deficient, exiguous, flimsy, inappreciable, inconsiderable, infertile, insubstantial, insufficient, little, mere, minimum, miserable, paltry, puny, scant, scanty, scrimp, scrimpy, shabby, short, skimp, skimpy, slender, slight, spare, sparse, subtle, tenuous, too little too late, unfinished, unfruitful, unproductive, wanting, weak |
| Antonyms: | adequate, large, liberal, plenty, substantial, sufficient |
| Main Entry: | bare |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | simple, unadorned |
| Synonyms: | austere, bald, basic, blunt, chaste, cold, essential, hard, literal, meager, mere, modest, scant, severe, sheer, simple, spare, stark, unembellished, unornamented |
| Notes: | bare is to uncover or reveal or to expose; bear is to hold up, support, transport - or an animal |
| Antonyms: | adorned, decorated |
| Main Entry: | deficient |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | imperfect, inadequate |
| Synonyms: | amiss, bad, damaged, defective, exiguous, faulty, flawed, found wanting, impaired, incomplete, inferior, infrequent, injured, insufficient, lacking, marred, meager, not cut out for, not enough, not make it, not up to scratch, outta gas, rare, scant, scanty*, scarce, second fiddle, second string, short, shy, sketchy, skimpy, third string, unassembled, unequal, unfinished, unsatisfactory, wanting, weak |
| Notes: | defective means having a defect or fault, while deficient means inadequate or lacking in amount or degree |
| Antonyms: | adequate, ample, enough, excessive, faultless, flawless, perfect, satisfactory, sufficient, superfluous |
| Main Entry: | economical |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | conservative with resources; careful |
| Synonyms: | avaricious, canny, chary, circumspect, close, closefisted, cost-effective, curmudgeonly, efficient, frugal, meager, mean, methodical, miserly, money-saving, niggardly, on the rims, parsimonious, penny-pinching, penny-wise, penurious, practical, provident, prudent, prudential, saving, scrimping, skimping, spare, sparing, stingy, thrifty, tight, time-saving, unwasteful, watchful, work-saving |
| Notes: | economic means 'pertaining to the production and use of income' and economical is 'avoiding waste, being careful of resources' |
| Antonyms: | careless, expensive, uncareful, uneconomical, wasteful |
| Main Entry: | emaciated |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | undernourished; thin |
| Synonyms: | anorexic, atrophied, attenuate, attenuated, bony, cadaverous, consumptive, famished, gaunt, haggard, lank, lean, like a bag of bones, meager, peaked, pinched, scrawny, skeletal, skeletonlike, skin-and-bones, skinny, starved, thin as rail, underfed, wasted, wizened |
| Antonyms: | fat, heavy, overnourished, overweight, plump |
| Main Entry: | exiguous |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | scanty |
| Synonyms: | bare, confined, diminutive, inadequate, limited, little, meager, narrow, negligible, paltry, petty, poor, restricted, skimpy, slender, slight, small, spare, sparse, tenuous, thin, tiny |
| Antonyms: | plenty |
| Main Entry: | few |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | hardly any |
| Synonyms: | exiguous, few and far between, imperceptible, inconsequential, inconsiderable, infrequent, insufficient, lean, less, meager, middling, minor, minority, minute, negligible, not many, not too many, occasional, paltry, petty, piddling, rare, scant, scanty, scarce, scarcely any, scattered, scattering, seldom, semioccasional, short, skimpy, slender, slight, slim, some, sparse, sporadic, stingy, straggling, thin, trifling, uncommon, unfrequent, widely spaced |
| Antonyms: | many, much |
| Main Entry: | flimsy |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | not strong; light, thin |
| Synonyms: | chiffon, cut-rate, decrepit, defective, delicate, diaphanous, feeble, fragile, frail, gauzy, gossamer, house of cards, inadequate, infirm, insubstantial, meager, papery, rickety, rinkydink, shaky, shallow, sheer, slapdash, sleazy, slight, superficial, tacky, transparent, unsound, unsubstantial, weak, wobbly |
| Antonyms: | firm, heavy, solid, strong, sturdy, substantial, thick, tough |
| Main Entry: | frugal |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | economical |
| Synonyms: | Spartan, abstemious, canny, careful, chary, conserving, discreet, meager, meticulous, mingy, niggardly, parsimonious, penny-pinching, penny-wise, preserving, provident, prudent, saving, scrimping, sparing, stingy, thrifty, tight, tightwad, unwasteful, wary |
| Notes: | frugal refers more directly to practicing economy in the course of shopping for goods or services, whereas thrifty applies more to the preservation of funds |
| Antonyms: | generous, lavish, spendthrifty, uneconomical, wasteful |