poverty

Poverty is the state of being poor, having little money or being in need of a specific quality.

(noun)

An example of poverty is the state a person is in when he is homeless and has no money or assets.

See poverty in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

the condition or quality of being poor; indigence; need
deficiency in necessary properties or desirable qualities, or in a specific quality, etc.; inadequacy: poverty of the soil, her poverty of imagination
smallness in amount; scarcity; paucity

Origin: ME poverte < OFr povreté < L paupertas < pauper, poor

See poverty in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun

The state of being poor; lack of the means of providing material needs or comforts.
Deficiency in amount; scantiness: “the poverty of feeling that reduced her soul” (Scott Turow).
Unproductiveness; infertility: the poverty of the soil.
Renunciation made by a member of a religious order of the right to own property.

Origin:

Origin: Middle English poverte

Origin: , from Old French

Origin: , from Latin paupertās

Origin: , from pauper, poor; see pau-¹ in Indo-European roots

See poverty in Ologies

Poverty

beggarism

1. Rare. the state of beggarhood.

2. behavior characteristic of a beggar.

the state or condition of utter poverty. Also called pauperage.