INDEX:
1. having very little money
2. having very little money at the present time
3. having fewer opportunities in life because of being poor
4. the people in a society who are poor
5. when people have very little money
6. an area where poor people live
7. a poor country
RELATED WORDS
opposite
↑ RICH
see also
↑ MONEY
↑ OWE
↑ EARN
↑ BORROW
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1. having very little money
▷ poor /pʊəʳ/ [adjective]
▪ They were so poor they couldn’t afford to buy shoes for their children.
▪ She was born in a poor district of Chicago in 1925.
▪ People who live in poor countries have a much lower life expectancy.
▪ These cuts will hit the poorest members of society.
▪ Some Democrats believed they lost the election because many poor women didn’t turn out to vote.
dirt poor
American extremely poor
▪ Her mother grew up dirt poor among migrant workers in Alabama.
▷ badly off /ˌbædli ˈɒf/ [adjective not before noun]
having less money than most other people :
▪ She was quite badly off for a while after her husband died.
▪ We were pretty poor, but most of our friends were even worse off.
▪ No matter how badly off we were, we never went to bed hungry.
▷ needy/in need /ˈniːdi, ɪn ˈniːd/ [adjective]
needy people or people who are in need do not have enough money to buy food, clothes etc, and deserve help :
▪ The fund was established to help needy widows whose husbands had died in the war.
▪ More aid should be given to needy families.
▪ All profits from the concert will go to help children in need.
▷ impoverished /ɪmˈpɒv ə rɪʃtǁ-ˈpɑː-/ [adjective] formal
very poor - use this especially about people or places that were not poor in the past :
▪ His family became so impoverished they were forced to sell the farm.
▪ All there was in the region was dry soil and impoverished villages.
▷ poverty-stricken /ˈpɒvəʳti ˌstrɪkənǁˈpɑː-/ [adjective usually before noun] written
extremely poor, and suffering as a result of this :
▪ At the moment, many poverty-stricken communities are experiencing a shortage of teachers.
▪ His photographs show vividly the lives of poverty-stricken families in the Gorbals area of Glasgow.
▷ destitute /ˈdestɪtjuːt, ˈdestətjuːtǁ-tuːt/ [adjective] especially written
having no money or possessions, and often nowhere to live, especially when there seems to be no possibility of improving the situation :
▪ In 1860 Father Murphy set up a home for orphans and destitute children.
▪ The rest of her family all died in a smallpox epidemic, leaving her destitute.
2. having very little money at the present time
▷ hard up /ˌhɑːʳd ˈʌp◂/ [adjective phrase not before noun] informal
having little money at the present time and being unable to buy the things that you need :
▪ I’m a little hard up just now -- can I pay you back next week?
▪ She was so hard up that she couldn’t afford to heat her apartment.
▷ broke /brəʊk/ [adjective not before noun] informal
having no money at the moment :
▪ We’re always broke at the end of the month.
▪ Lawrence was so broke he had to wear the same suit to work every day.
flat broke
completely broke
▪ He turned up at my house yesterday, flat broke and hungry.
▷ skint /skɪnt/ [adjective not before noun] British spoken
having no money at all :
▪ I’m really skint -- you couldn’t lend me a few quid could you?
▪ At that time I was skint, and I would have taken any job I could get.
▷ be down on your luck /biː ˌdaʊn ɒn jɔːʳ ˈlʌk/ [verb phrase] informal
to have had bad luck over a long period of time so that you now have very little money :
▪ We bought the necklace from an old man who was down on his luck and in need of a penny or two.
down-on-your-luck [adjective only before noun]
▪ In the film, Williams plays a down-on-his luck salesman whose wife has left him.
3. having fewer opportunities in life because of being poor
▷ disadvantaged /ˌdɪsədˈvɑːntɪdʒd◂ǁ-ˈvæn-/ [adjective] especially written
disadvantaged people or groups have less chance of being successful in life because they are poor -- used especially in social or political contexts :
▪ The university has announced plans to increase the number of students from minority and disadvantaged groups.
▪ Quinn argued that an increase in the minimum wage would help the most disadvantaged Americans.
▷ underprivileged /ˌʌndəʳˈprɪvɪlɪdʒd◂, ˌʌndəʳˈprɪvəlɪdʒd◂/ [adjective usually before noun]
having less money and worse living conditions than other people in a society, and little chance of being successful in life :
▪ Princess Anne has done much to help underprivileged children all over the world.
▷ deprived /dɪˈpraɪvd/ [adjective usually before noun]
deprived people are very poor and are not able to find good jobs or get a good education. A deprived area is one in which people are poor and do not have many advantages :
▪ Most mass demonstrations of this type happen in places where people are enormously deprived.
▪ Children growing up in deprived areas are far more likely to turn to crime and drug abuse.
▪ Girls from deprived backgrounds often become pregnant at an early age.
4. the people in a society who are poor
▷ poor people/the poor/the needy /ˈpʊəʳ ˌpiːp ə l, ðə ˈpʊəʳ, ðə ˈniːdi/ [plural noun]
the people in a society who are poor :
▪ The poor always suffer worst in a recession.
▪ It was fairly common in Victorian times for middle-class women to work among the needy in the big industrial cities.
▪ Finding adequate housing for the poor has been one of the city council’s priorities.
▪ The technological revolution has failed to improve the lives of poor people in developing countries.
▷ the have-nots /ðə ˈhæv nɒts/ [plural noun]
the people in society who are poor and have very few possessions compared to people who have a high income and own property, cars etc :
the haves and have-nots
▪ Society seems to be increasingly divided into the haves rich people and have-nots.
5. when people have very little money
▷ poverty /ˈpɒvəʳtiǁˈpɑː-/ [uncountable noun]
▪ Charles was shocked by the poverty he saw in India.
▪ Poverty and unemployment are two of the biggest causes of crime
dire/abject/grinding etc poverty
extreme poverty
▪ Seven out of every 10 Guatemalans live in dire poverty and half cannot read or write.
live/grow up/be raised etc in poverty
▪ Old people should not have to live in poverty.
the poverty line/level
the income below which a person or family is officially considered to be very poor and in need of help
▪ In Louisiana, one person in four lives below the poverty level.
▷ hard times /hɑːʳd ˈtaɪmz/ [plural noun]
a period when life is difficult because you have little money - use this when you are comparing this to other, better, times :
▪ There were hard times during my childhood when my parents didn’t have work, but generally we were happy.
fall on hard times
begin to experience hard times
▪ Many of the girls were from middle class families who had fallen on hard times.
▪ After the war my father fell on hard times and sank deeply into debt.
6. an area where poor people live
▷ inner city /ˌɪnəʳ ˈsɪti◂/ [countable noun]
the part near the middle of a city where the buildings are in bad condition and where a lot of poor people live :
▪ the problems of Britain’s inner cities
inner-city [adjective only before noun]
▪ inner-city schools
▷ slum /slʌm/ [countable noun]
an area of a city where the houses are in very bad condition and the people are very poor and live in dirty, crowded, and unhealthy conditions :
▪ Maria lives with her eight children in a slum outside Montevideo.
the slums
▪ I grew up in the East London slums.
▷ ghetto /ˈgetəʊ/ [countable noun]
a poor and crowded part of a city, where people live separately from the rest of the population, especially people of one race or from one country. Inner city is now more common than ghetto :
▪ a novel about life in the ghettos of New York
▪ Ottovina lived on the South Side, in the Italian ghetto, and barely spoke any English at all.
7. a poor country
▷ developing country/nation /dɪˌveləpɪŋ ˈkʌntri, ˈneɪʃ ə n/ [noun phrase]
a country that is not rich and does not have much industry or business activity :
▪ Bellamy called on the United States to increase aid to developing nations.
▪ Leaders of developing countries from around the world met in Indonesia to devise ways to improve their economies.
▷ Third World /ˌθɜːʳd ˈwɜːʳld◂/ [adjective]
a Third World country or nation is poor and does not have much industry. Third World is used especially in a negative sense when talking about the problems that these countries face :
the Third World
these countries in general
▪ Most of the population in the Third World is concentrated in large cities.
Third World country/nation
▪ Sometimes I think that England is becoming a Third World country.