POOR

adj. 1 needy, destitute, indigent, in want, in need, penniless, poverty-stricken, impoverished, badly off, necessitous, poor as a church-mouse, straitened, pinched, in reduced circumstances, impecunious, financially embarrassed, down and out, out of pocket, ruined, insolvent, bankrupt, Colloq broke, hard up, on one's uppers, short, US wiped out, Brit in Queer Street, Slang Brit skint They were poor and didn't know where their next meal was coming from 2 low, bad, skimpy, meagre, scant, scanty, inadequate, deficient, insufficient, sparse How can a family of five survive on such a poor salary? These days, 3 per cent would be considered a poor return on investment 3 barren, unproductive, unfruitful, fruitless, infertile, sterile; depleted, exhausted, impoverished This is poor soil, and no amount of cultivation is likely to make it productive 4 bad, awful, inadequate, unsatisfactory, unacceptable, bumbling, inefficient, amateurish, unprofessional, inferior, second-rate, third-rate, low-grade, shabby, shoddy, mediocre, defective, faulty, flawed, substandard, sorry, not up to par or snuff, slipshod, below or under par, Colloq rotten, lousy They did a poor job repairing my car Her latest recital was pretty poor. 5 insignificant, slight, paltry, inconsequential, mean, modest, trivial, trifling They made only a poor attempt to correct the problem 6 unfortunate, unlucky, pathetic, luckless, pitiful, pitiable, ill-fated, miserable, wretched, ill-starred, star-crossed, jinxed, hapless The poor chap lost his entire family in the disaster 7 bad, ill Aunt Theresa has been in poor health lately