Poor definition
A poor performance; poor wages.
An area poor in timber and coal; a diet poor in calcium.
- Lacking abundance; scanty; inadequate.poor crops.
- Lacking productivity; barren; sterile.poor soil.
- Lacking nourishment; feeble; emaciated.A poor body.
- Lacking excellence or worth; below average, inferior, bad, etc. or paltry, mean, insignificant, etc.
- Lacking good moral or mental qualities; mean-spirited; contemptible.
- Lacking pleasure, comfort, or satisfaction.To have a poor time.
- Lacking skill.
Has a poor opinion of the mayor.
Oh you poor little thing.
The urban poor are in need of homes.
An example of poor is living below the poverty line.
An example of poor used as an adjective is the phrase poor communication skills which means that a person cannot communicate well with others.
An example of the poor is everyone who lives in poverty.
Couldn't rescue the poor fellow.
The poor side of town.
That was a poor performance.
Cow's milk is poor in iron.
The poor are always with us.
- poor, or needy, people collectively
Other Word Forms
Adjective
Idioms and Phrasal Verbs
Origin of poor
- Middle English poure from Old French povre from Latin pauper pau-1 in Indo-European roots
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
- From Middle English povre, povere, from Old French (Anglo-Norman) povre, poure (Modern French pauvre), from Latin pauper, from Old Latin *pavo-pars (“getting little"), from Proto-Indo-European *ph₁w- (“smallness"). Cognate with Old English fÄ“awa (“little, few"). Displaced native Middle English earm, arm (“poor") (from Old English earm; See arm), Middle English wantsum, wantsome (“poor, needy") (from Old Norse vant (“deficiency, lack, want"), Middle English unlede (“poor") (from Old English unlÇ£de, Middle English unweli, unwely (“poor, unwealthy") (from Old English un- + weliÄ¡ (“well-to-do, prosperous, rich").
From Wiktionary