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.

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See poverty in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

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

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

See poverty in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun
  1. The state of being poor; lack of the means of providing material needs or comforts.
  2. Deficiency in amount; scantiness: “the poverty of feeling that reduced her soul” (Scott Turow).
  3. Unproductiveness; infertility: the poverty of the soil.
  4. 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

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See poverty in Ologies

Poverty

beggarism

1. Rare. the state of beggarhood.

2. behavior characteristic of a beggar.

pauperism

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

peniaphobia

an abnormal fear of poverty.

penury

extreme poverty or destitution. —penurious, adj.

Poplarism British.

1. a policy in local governments of providing relief for the poor, often excessive in amount.

2. any similar policy of government spending that leads to higher taxes. —Poplarist, n.

ptochocracy

a form of rule by beggars or the poor.

ptochology

the scientific study of pauperism, unemployment, etc.

slumism

the development and growth of slums or substandard dwelling conditions in urban areas.

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