POVERTY


Meaning of POVERTY in English

transcription, транскрипция: [ ˈpä-vər-tē ]

noun

Usage: often attributive

Etymology: Middle English poverte, from Anglo-French poverté, from Latin paupertat-, paupertas, from pauper poor — more at poor

Date: 12th century

1.

a. : the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions

b. : renunciation as a member of a religious order of the right as an individual to own property

2. : scarcity , dearth

3.

a. : debility due to malnutrition

b. : lack of fertility

Synonyms:

poverty , indigence , penury , want , destitution mean the state of one with insufficient resources. poverty may cover a range from extreme want of necessities to an absence of material comforts

the extreme poverty of the slum dwellers

indigence implies seriously straitened circumstances

the indigence of her years as a graduate student

penury suggests a cramping or oppressive lack of money

a catastrophic illness that condemned them to years of penury

want and destitution imply extreme poverty that threatens life itself through starvation or exposure

lived in a perpetual state of want

the widespread destitution in countries beset by famine

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate English vocabulary.      Энциклопедический словарь английского языка Merriam Webster.