as in poverty
the state of lacking sufficient money or material possessions
each country has its own standard of poorness, and one nation's needy inhabitant can be another's fairly well-off citizen
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for poorness
Noun
-
The district’s poverty rate was 14% in 2023, compared with 11.1% for the nation, according to Statista and the U.S. Census Bureau.—
Paul Davidson,
USA TODAY,
20 Feb. 2025 -
Known for his incredible racing career, John Force has made a huge impact on professional drag racing, having overcome many challenges including childhood poverty and polio, before becoming one of the greats in the sport with a record-breaking 157 wins in NHRA professional racing events.—
Josh Hammer,
Newsweek,
16 Feb. 2025
Noun
-
The ceaseless movement of staff around the world compounds this nebulous sensation of perpetual indigence.—
Nick Foulkes,
theweek,
7 Nov. 2024
-
In its first three years, Bolsa Família cut extreme poverty by 15 percent, and by 2014, the percentage of Brazilians living in indigence had been slashed to less than three percent—a level the World Bank considers equivalent to eradication.—
Jonathan Tepperman,
Foreign Affairs,
14 Dec. 2015
Noun
-
That would help ensure that our longer lives are not feared as a time of pain, penury or purposelessness, but as a treasured gift of years.—
Avivah Wittenberg-Cox,
Forbes,
21 Feb. 2025
-
One of Thompson’s signature innovations was to use a predictive algorithm to kick ailing and disabled Medicare patients out of nursing homes and rehabilitative programs, causing untold misery and penury.—
Jessica Winter,
The New Yorker,
13 Dec. 2024
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Cite this Entry
“Poorness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/poorness. Accessed 4 Mar. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share