Brief statement shows total is oddly meagre at the end of the day (7)
I believe the answer is:
summary
'brief statement' is the definition.
'total is oddly meagre at the end of the day' is the wordplay.
'total' becomes 'sum' (synonyms).
'is oddly' means one should take alternating letters (letters in odd-numbered positions).
'at the end of' says to take the final letters.
The last letter of 'day' is 'y'.
The alternate letters of 'meagre' are 'mar'.
'sum'+'mar'+'y'='SUMMARY'
'shows' is the link.
(Other definitions for summary that I've seen before include "Precis, gist" , "Arbitrary" , "Abstract, short version" , "Immediate" , "Brief" .)