impoverished

adjective

im·​pov·​er·​ished im-ˈpä-v(ə-)risht 

1

: reduced to poverty : poor

an impoverished family/community

2

: exhausted of richness or fertility

impoverished soils

3

of a fauna or flora : represented by few species or individuals

Synonyms

• beggared
• beggarly
• broke
• destitute
• dirt-poor
• down-and-out
• famished
• hard up
• impecunious
• indigent
• necessitous
• needful
• needy
• pauperized
• penniless
• penurious
• poor
• poverty-stricken
• skint [chiefly British]
• threadbare

Examples of impoverished in a Sentence

the widespread hope that the lottery's record-setting jackpot is won by an impoverished family

an impoverished field that over the years had been overgrazed

Recent Examples on the Web

Numerous aid workers in northern Thailand described widespread panic and confusion following the sudden suspension of aid, especially among those whose work provides life-saving services to some of the world’s most vulnerable and impoverished people on both sides of the border. —Ivan Watson, CNN, 11 Feb. 2025

Meanwhile, the sight of an unelected billionaire dismantling an agency that was set up to help the impoverished is already undermining faith in U.S. democracy. —John Cassidy, The New Yorker, 8 Feb. 2025

Palestinians living there were not granted Egyptian citizenship, and Gaza remained impoverished and politically unstable. —Efrat Lachter, Fox News, 5 Feb. 2025

But readers don’t need to be familiar with her music to be moved by her raw, unflinching memoir, which chronicles her impoverished and at times surreal upbringing as well as her long journey toward self-confidence. —Lindsay Zoladz, New York Times, 16 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1611, in the meaning defined at sense 1