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Definitions

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.

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

From Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.