poverty

[pov-er-tee] / ˈpɒv ər ti /

NOUN

want; extreme need, often financial

Synonyms

STRONGEST

bankruptcy debt deficit difficulty famine hardship lack scarcity shortage starvation underdevelopment

STRONG

abjection aridity barrenness beggary dearth deficiency depletion destitution distress emptiness exiguity impecuniousness impoverishment inadequacy indigence insolvency insufficiency meagerness necessity pass paucity pauperism pennilessness penury pinch poorness privation reduction straits vacancy

WEAK

necessitousness

Antonyms

STRONGEST

abundance ease enough excess plenty profit surplus

STRONG

adequacy advantage affluence fill sufficiency wealth

WEAK

luxury richness

Usage

What are other ways to say poverty? Poverty denotes serious lack of the means for proper existence: living in a state of extreme poverty. Destitution, a somewhat more literary word, implies a state of having absolutely none of the necessities of life: widespread destitution in countries at war. Indigence denotes a severely impoverished condition marked by hardship and the lack of any of life’s comforts: reduced to a life of indigence.

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.

It was an ordinary life, lived carefully - a young man trying to pull his family out of poverty.

From BBC

Relative child poverty here is twice the national UK average.

From BBC

Despite its mineral wealth, more than 70 percent of Zambia's 21 million people live in poverty, according to the World Bank.

From Barron's

He cited China as an inspiration -- admiring how India's rival had "been able to systematically bring people out of poverty" at speed.

From Barron's

Yet many Mau Mau veterans ended their lives in poverty, never having received recognition from the Kenyan government or recovered the land for which they fought.

From Barron's

poverty

Usage

Example Sentences

Related Words