Pittance

Definitions

1. A small allowance of food and drink; a scanty meal.
2. A meagre allowance of money or wages.
3. A small amount.

Equivalents

Examples

“In the very prime of life, Mr. Glentworth found every prospect gone; he had only a meagre pittance, compared to his former expenditure; but he had neither the habits nor the opportunity of increasing it.”

“So I went to keep⟳ house with him at the Why Not? and my aunt sent down my bag of clothes, and would have⟳ made over to Elzevir the pittance that my father left for my keep⟳, but he said it was not needful, and he would have⟳ none of it.”

“Dad was forced to claim⟳ benefit money from the government. It was a pittance, barely enough to live⟳ on.”

“The former residents of Fraguas, who sold up for a pittance, have⟳ swung behind the resettlement, happy to see⟳ life return⟳ to the narrow lanes where they grew up.”

CEFR level