PENURY

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

Meaning:

A state of extreme poverty or destitution

Example:

a general state of need exists among the homeless

Synonyms:

indigence; need; pauperism; pauperization; penury

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("penury" is a kind of...):

impoverishment; poorness; poverty (the state of having little or no money and few or no material possessions)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "penury"):

beggary; mendicancy; mendicity (the state of being a beggar or mendicant)

Derivation:

penurious (not having enough money to pay for necessities)