Poverty Definition
pŏvər-tē
noun
The condition or quality of being poor; indigence; need.
Webster's New World
Deficiency in necessary properties or desirable qualities, or in a specific quality, etc.; inadequacy.
Poverty of the soil, poverty of imagination.
Webster's New World
Smallness in amount; scarcity; paucity.
Webster's New World
Unproductiveness; infertility.
The poverty of the soil.
American Heritage
Renunciation made by a member of a religious order of the right to own property.
American Heritage
Synonyms:
Other Word Forms of Poverty
Noun
Singular:
povertyPlural:
povertiesOrigin of Poverty
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From Middle English, from Old French poverté (Modern French pauvreté), from Latin paupertās, from pauper (“poor") + -tas (“noun of state suffix"). Cognates include pauper, poor.
From Wiktionary
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Middle English poverte from Old French from Latin paupertās from pauper poor pau-1 in Indo-European roots
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
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