It’s miserable when married and obviously not independent (6)
I believe the answer is:
measly
'it's miserable' is the definition.
(synonyms)
I cannot understand how the remainder of the clue works.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for measly that I've seen before include "Spotty - paltry" , "Paltry - with spots?" , "Slay me (anag)" , "ungenerous in amount" , "quite inadequate" .)