indigent
Americanadjective
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lacking food, clothing, and other necessities of life because of poverty; needy; poor; impoverished.
- Synonyms:
- distressed, penurious, necessitous
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Archaic.
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deficient in what is requisite.
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destitute (usually followed byof ).
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noun
adjective
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so poor as to lack even necessities; very needy
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archaic (usually foll by of) lacking (in) or destitute (of)
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of indigent
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin indigent-, stem of indigēns “needing, lacking,” present participle of indigēre “to need, lack, be poor,” from ind-, variant of in- in- 2 ( cf. indagate) + -igēre, combining form of egēre “to need, lack”
Explanation
An indigent person is extremely poor, lacking the basic resources of a normal life. Often the indigent lack not only money but homes. Indigent comes from a Latin word meaning wanting, which we used to use to mean “lacking” and not just to describe desires. Homeless shelters, soup kitchens, free medical clinics and court-appointed lawyers are all institutions that our society has developed to help indigent people.
Vocabulary lists containing indigent
Just Mercy
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "I"
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This Week in Words: April 14 - 20, 2018
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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.
Kapelovitz focuses on felony defense, though he handles “everything from disturbing the peace to murder” for a client base that is 90% indigent.
From Los Angeles Times • May 1, 2026
When the center was founded in 1971, it mainly did legal work for clients who were indigent or had civil-liberties complaints.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 30, 2026
District Court for the Central District of California, noting that court-appointed private attorneys who represent indigent federal criminal defendants have been working without pay since funds ran out in July.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 12, 2025
And in North Carolina, the campaign is narrowly focused on promoting Democrats’ successful efforts to expand Medicaid, which will extend nearly-free government health insurance to thousands of people and reduce the indigent population for hospitals.
From Seattle Times • May 19, 2024
Approximately 80 percent of criminal defendants are indigent and thus unable to hire a lawyer.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
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.
