| / English Dictionary |
POOR
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
People without possessions or wealth (considered as a group)
Example:
the urban poor need assistance
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects
Hypernyms ("poor" is a kind of...):
people ((plural) any group of human beings (men or women or children) collectively)
Domain usage:
plural; plural form (the form of a word that is used to denote more than one)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "poor"):
homeless (poor people who unfortunately do not have a home to live in)
needy (needy people collectively)
Antonym:
rich (people who have possessions and wealth (considered as a group))
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Deserving or inciting pity
Example:
a wretched life
Synonyms:
hapless; miserable; misfortunate; pathetic; piteous; pitiable; pitiful; poor; wretched
Classified under:
Similar:
unfortunate (not favored by fortune; marked or accompanied by or resulting in ill fortune)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Having little money or few possessions
Example:
the proverbial poor artist living in a garret
Classified under:
Similar:
broke; bust; skint; stone-broke; stony-broke (lacking funds)
destitute; impoverished; indigent; necessitous; needy; poverty-stricken (poor enough to need help from others)
hard up; impecunious; in straitened circumstances; penniless; penurious; pinched (not having enough money to pay for necessities)
moneyless (having no money)
unprovided for (without income or means)
Also:
underprivileged (lacking the rights and advantages of other members of society)
Attribute:
financial condition (the condition of (corporate or personal) finances)
Antonym:
rich (possessing material wealth)
Derivation:
poorness (the state of having little or no money and few or no material possessions)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Lacking in quality or substances
Example:
the food in the cafeteria was of poor quality
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
resourceless (lacking or deficient in natural resources)
Antonym:
rich (having an abundant supply of desirable qualities or substances (especially natural resources))
Derivation:
poorness (the quality of being meager)
poorness (less than adequate)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Characterized by or indicating poverty
Example:
they lived in the poor section of town
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
beggarly; mean (marked by poverty befitting a beggar)
slummy ((of housing or residential areas) indicative of poverty)
Antonym:
rich (suggestive of or characterized by great expense)
Derivation:
poorness (the state of having little or no money and few or no material possessions)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Of insufficient quantity to meet a need
Example:
the jejune diets of the very poor
Synonyms:
inadequate; jejune; poor; short
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
deficient; insufficient (of a quantity not able to fulfill a need or requirement)
Derivation:
poorness (the quality of being meager)
Context examples:
The authors said the impact would be most significant for the poorest citizens of some of the least-developed countries, who eat the most rice and have the least diverse diets.
(Planet-Warming Gases Make Some Food Less Nutritious, Study Says, Steve Baragona/VOA)
“But I feel very sorry for the poor children, all the same,” said the man.
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
Rich or poor, we will keep together and be happy in one another.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
Then the Lion gave a great roar and sprang towards them, and the poor Winkies were so frightened that they ran back as fast as they could.
(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)
Researchers found that poor diets leading to cardiovascular disease and cancer caused almost 11 million deaths, or one in every five deaths, worldwide in 2017.
(Poor Diet Kills More People Than Smoking, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
Researchers have found associations between insomnia and poor health outcomes.
(Insomnia: Heart Attack, Stroke Risk, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
If you have some kinds of heart or blood vessel disease, or if you have poor blood flow to your brain, your doctor may recommend that you take a blood thinner.
(Blood Thinners, NIH)
I shall commit my thoughts to paper, it is true; but that is a poor medium for the communication of feeling.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
I do not know when poor Richard's cravats would be done, if he had no friend but you.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
Have a little mercy on the poor men.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
