beggar
Americannoun
-
beggars
plural
verb (used with object)
-
beggars,
present (3rd person singular)
-
beggared,
past participle, past
-
beggaring
present participle
-
to reduce to utter poverty; impoverish.
The family had been beggared by the war.
-
to cause one's resources of or ability for (description, comparison, etc.) to seem poor or inadequate.
The costume beggars description.
noun
-
a person who begs, esp one who lives by begging
-
a person who has no money or resources; pauper
-
ironic fellow
lucky beggar!
verb
-
to be beyond the resources of (esp in the phrase to beggar description )
-
to impoverish; reduce to begging
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
beggarsimple
-
beggarssimple
-
have beggaredperfect
-
has beggaredperfect
-
am beggaringprogressive
-
are beggaringprogressive
-
is beggaringprogressive
-
have been beggaringperfect progressive
-
has been beggaringperfect progressive
Past
-
beggaredsimple
-
had beggaredperfect
-
was beggaringprogressive
-
were beggaringprogressive
-
had been beggaringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of beggar
First recorded in 1175–1225, beggar is from the Middle English word beggare, beggere. See beg 1, -er 1, -ar 3
Explanation
A beggar is a poor person who asks others, or begs, for money or food. Another word for a beggar is a "panhandler," although both terms are vaguely offensive. No one wants to be a beggar. Many people who are beggars are also homeless and haven't been able to find jobs. Sometimes people use the word in an informal, pitying way: "Poor little beggar, he works so hard!" Another informal term is "to beggar belief," as when something is so incredible that you find it hard to believe. Another expression is “beggars can’t be choosers” which means you get what you get and you don’t get upset.
Vocabulary lists containing beggar
Broke-abulary: Synonyms for "Poor"
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
The Other Side
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Whether buying a Porsche 911, paying bills or giving money to a beggar at a stoplight, the payment is made the same way.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026
"It's just garbage... the clothes you can't even wear, you wouldn't even give to a beggar," Akoth said.
From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2025
But over the following years, purported sightings of Majorana multiplied: as a beggar in Naples, a monk in Calabria, and a vagabond in South America.
From Science Magazine ● Dec. 20, 2023
Those assets were usually nil, according to Mr. Klein, who described him as a lovable beggar and a skilled haggler.
From New York Times ● Jun. 24, 2023
In Isiolo or on top of a truck driving the endless miles up to Marsabit, I sometimes felt like a beggar.
From "Facing the Lion" by Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton and Herman Viola
Tracy said it "beggars belief that they couldn't see any physical assault there".
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
“To that I can only say they are correct. It beggars belief.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 20, 2026
"You go into the hospital and there's sepsis posters on lifts and walls but if their actual frontline staff can't recognise the symptoms of sepsis, it just beggars belief," said Jane.
From BBC ● Feb. 9, 2026
“It kind of beggars credulity that that number of complaints could be raised and that none could be substantiated,” Johnson said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 15, 2025
They were ashamed of sitting on the sidewalk, people mistaking them for beggars.
From "The Woman Warrior" by Maxine Hong Kingston
A worse sin, even, than Amin’s expulsion in 1972 of every last Ugandan Asian, an act that was wildly popular with black Ugandans but which beggared Uganda almost overnight.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2025
Even in a country used to royal spectacle, that parade beggared description: 19 military bands and 4,000 troops, stretching a full mile from the palace gates along the mall and around the corner into Whitehall.
From New York Times ● May 6, 2023
Both could have won a game that beggared belief.
From BBC ● Jan. 30, 2022
If you thought the scot-free museum heist beggared belief, then you underestimate Elektra and her imagination.
From Salon ● May 2, 2021
The teeth in their sockets like dental molds, the crude tattoos etched in some homebrewed woad faded in the beggared sunlight.
From "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy
"It's beggaring the entire Forest Service budget," Safford said.
From Salon ● Mar. 1, 2022
But beggaring the workers who trusted promises made by their employers, their unions and their government is not the answer.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 9, 2018
It would have restricted development on grouse habitat, potentially beggaring states such as Wyoming which collects three-fifths of its revenues from energy companies.
From Economist ● May 3, 2018
One recalled another legacy of Ceausescu's -- the beggaring of Rumania -- when she explained, "We have nothing else to give the soldiers except bread."
From Time Magazine Archive
This buying of titles, however, is but one way by which the millionaires are beggaring the American people.
From Confiscation; an outline by Greenwood, William
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
