land-poor

American

[land-poor] / ˈlændˌpʊər /

adjective

in need of ready money while owning much land.

land-poor British

adjective

owning much unprofitable land and lacking the money to maintain its fertility or improve it

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of land-poor

An Americanism dating back to 1870–75

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

His father, a land-poor, dirt-poor migrant farmer, went as far north as Canada to harvest crops.

From Time Magazine Archive

The motive of President after President was to encourage settlement of the empty, rocky area, once regarded hungrily by land-poor Chile as a possible zone of expansion.

From Time Magazine Archive

Already the land-poor country's 700 golf courses take up as much space as 1� Tokyos.

From Time Magazine Archive

Texas—immense, unorganized, full of cattle for which no profitable market could be found, cattle-rustlers, land-poor cow-barons and original sin.

From Time Magazine Archive

The owner is so land-poor that he can't pay the taxes.

From The House Behind the Cedars by Chesnutt, Charles W. (Charles Waddell)

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023