Meanings
comparative more exiguous · superlative most exiguous
- Scanty; meager.
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.
4 more examples
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 XIIIThe 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 VIIThey 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 StatesmanAmong 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
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinexiguus“strict, exact”
- Englishexiguous
From Latin exiguus (“strict, exact”), from exigere (“to measure against a standard”).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian оскъден, незначителен
- оскъден (oskăden)extremely scanty
- незначителен (neznačitelen)extremely scanty
Catalan exigu
- exiguextremely scanty
French exigu
- exiguextremely scanty
Italian esiguo
- esiguoextremely scanty
Polish skąpy, znikomy
- skąpyextremely scanty
- znikomyextremely scanty
- szczupłyextremely scanty
Portuguese exíguo
- exíguoextremely scanty
Russian ску́дный
- ску́дный (skúdnyj)extremely scanty
Spanish exiguo
- exiguoextremely scanty
Ukrainian незначний, малий
- незначний (neznačnyj)extremely scanty
- малий (malyj)extremely scanty
- мізерний (mizernyj)extremely scanty
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with exiguous
All rhymes →Cite this entry
exiguous. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/exiguous
“exiguous.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/exiguous. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “exiguous,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/exiguous.
Source: exiguous on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.