slim pickings

noun

A small amount, especially of money; paucity.

“After the factory closed, it's slim pickings for work in this town.”

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Meanings

nounslim pickings pl (plural only)
  1. colloquialpluralplural onlyA small amount, especially of money; paucity.

    After the factory closed, it's slim pickings for work in this town.

    3 more examples

    ... they were among the citizens of the Great Republic who got shut into Paris during the siege, and had reason to complain of "the slim pickings" even their dollars commanded during that tragic episode of our neighbours' history.

    1876, The Gentleman's Magazine, July to December issue, pg. 208

    Only at one season during the year does the average Haitian get more than these slim pickings; that is in mango-time, and then the roads and trails are carpeted with the yellow pits.

    1920, Harry Alverson Franck, Roaming Through the West Indies, The Century Co., page 153

    But in a year of slim pickings in the super-coach business -- Cowher and Carroll preferred to wait another day -- there was not much left to choose from.

    2008, Mike Wise, The Washington Post, "Redskins Looked Below the Radar," February 10, 2008, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/09/AR2008020903082_pf.html
Cite this entry
APA

slim pickings. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/slim%20pickings

MLA

“slim pickings.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/slim%20pickings. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “slim pickings,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/slim%20pickings.

Source: slim pickings on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.