poverty
Americannoun
-
the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support; condition of being poor.
-
deficiency of necessary or desirable ingredients, qualities, etc..
poverty of the soil.
- Synonyms:
- insufficiency
-
scantiness; insufficiency.
Their efforts to stamp out disease were hampered by a poverty of medical supplies.
- Synonyms:
- dearth, paucity, shortage, inadequacy
- Antonyms:
- sufficiency, surfeit, abundance, glut, excess
noun
-
the condition of being without adequate food, money, etc
-
scarcity or dearth
a poverty of wit
-
a lack of elements conducive to fertility in land or soil
Usage
What are other ways to say poverty? Poverty refers to the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support. How does this noun compare to synonyms destitution and indigence? Learn more on Thesaurus.com.
Etymology
Origin of poverty
First recorded in 1125–75; Middle English poverte, from Old French, from Latin paupertāt- (stem of paupertās ) “small means, moderate circumstances.”; pauper, -ty 2
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.
There’s also a risk of a higher rate of elder poverty if people are unable to save what’s required, he said.
From MarketWatch
From domestic help to construction workers, they have long supported these economies to lift their families back home from poverty.
From BBC
Beyond the obvious, the dilapidated housing and the poverty, what struck Duncan Smith in Easterhouse was the hopelessness, the sense that being on benefits was a destination, not a bridge.
From BBC
Plaid Cymru say they want to cut NHS waiting lists, raise school standards and tackle child poverty.
From BBC
"This had massive knock-on effects that damaged the social fabric of many countries with widespread strikes, unrest, and increases in poverty as many households struggled to make ends meet," he said.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
