poor
Americanadjective
-
poorer,
comparative
-
poorest
superlative
-
having little or no money, goods, or other means of support.
She came from a poor family struggling to survive.
- Synonyms:
- straitened, necessitous, poverty-stricken, penniless, destitute, impoverished, indigent, needy
-
Law. dependent upon charity or public support.
-
(of a country, institution, etc.) meagerly supplied or endowed with resources or funds.
-
characterized by or showing poverty.
-
deficient or lacking in something specified.
a region poor in mineral deposits.
- Synonyms:
- meager
-
faulty or inferior, as in construction.
poor workmanship.
- Synonyms:
- shabby, unsatisfactory
-
(of land or soil) lacking abundance or productivity.
poor soil.
- Synonyms:
- unfruitful, barren, sterile
- Antonyms:
- fertile
-
excessively lean or emaciated, as cattle.
-
of an inferior, inadequate, or unsatisfactory kind.
poor health.
-
lacking in skill, ability, or training.
a poor cook.
-
deficient in moral excellence; cowardly, abject, or mean.
-
scanty, meager, or paltry in amount or number.
a poor audience.
-
They shared their poor meal with a stranger.
-
The poor dog was limping.
noun
idioms
-
poor as Job's turkey, extremely poor.
-
poor as a church mouse, extremely poor.
adjective
-
-
lacking financial or other means of subsistence; needy
-
( as collective noun; preceded by the )
the poor
-
-
characterized by or indicating poverty
the country had a poor economy
-
deficient in amount; scanty or inadequate
a poor salary
-
badly supplied (with resources, materials, etc)
a region poor in wild flowers
-
lacking in quality; inferior
-
giving no pleasure; disappointing or disagreeable
a poor play
-
(prenominal) deserving of pity; unlucky
poor John is ill again
-
a (cheaper) substitute for something
Pronunciation
In North and North Midland U.S. English, the vowel of poor is most often . Poor and sure thus contrast with pour and shore: , versus , or , . In the South Midland and South, the vowel of poor is generally or (often with the final (r) dropped), which means that in these areas, poor and pour are homophones, as are sure and shore. Both types of pronunciation exist in the British Isles.
Synonym Usage
Poor, impecunious, impoverished, penniless refer to those lacking money. Poor is the simple term for the condition of lacking means to obtain the comforts of life: a very poor family. Impecunious often suggests that the poverty is a consequence of unwise habits: an impecunious actor. Impoverished often implies a former state of greater plenty, from which one has been reduced: the impoverished aristocracy. Penniless may mean destitute, or it may apply simply to a temporary condition of being without funds: The widow was left penniless with three small children.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of poor
First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English pov(e)re, from Old French povre, from Latin pauper; see pauper
Explanation
Poor describes having little of something. If you lack needed food and shelter, you're poor, and if you fall below a standard or don't even try, you're giving a poor performance. Empty pockets and empty efforts both mean poor. Rich or wealthy often serve as opposites of poor. If you have material things, you're rich, and if you don't, you're poor. You can be full of knowledge but get poor grades if you're not studying, or you might be poor in terms of money but rich in friends and kindness. Poor can also be used as a noun, as in "Charity is aimed at helping the poor."
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:
Depp’s character says of a poor man at the start of the film, his face in a sneer so intense it looks like botched Botox.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 13, 2026
Cynically, it even puts a sour spin on the two charity workers who ask Scrooge to donate money to the poor.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 13, 2026
Carrick's complaints after the match were justified - but they masked a poor performance from his team.
From BBC ● Nov. 12, 2026
But the former employee described a "very paradoxical" individual protective of his employees but also capable, within Nvidia's executive circle, of "ripping people to shreds" over mistakes or poor decisions.
From Barron's ● Nov. 12, 2026
He no longer felt like a cub who must wait for the poor, slow taillesses to catch up.
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
Prof John Jerrim, an academic at University College London who researches education systems in different countries, says that England's system is failing poorer pupils.
From BBC ● Nov. 13, 2026
These cancers are often more aggressive and generally have poorer outcomes than tumors that respond to estrogen.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 12, 2026
African countries are pushing for the COP31 agenda to include discussions on the tripling of adaptation finance, which aims to help poorer nations pay for measures such as building sea walls or planting drought-resistant crops.
From Barron's ● Nov. 9, 2026
Becerra may also be sympathetic to environmental justice communities — poorer neighborhoods, often of color — that have experienced disproportionately negative effects from extraction industries such as oil drilling and mining.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026
Already that child seems much younger, poorer, farther away, a shrunken, ignorant version of myself.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
This increase was especially large for middle-class households of working age and for the poorest retirement-age households.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 3, 2026
They mapped out public toilets in some of the poorest regions of the city, created bus routes databases and fought slum clearance policies.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2026
The centre-left British leader also announced he would launch a new debt restructuring drive for the poorest Commonwealth countries, led by former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown.
From Barron's ● Oct. 31, 2026
The Brazilian suffered a thigh injury before the 2-0 home loss to Tottenham, a match that produced Chelsea's poorest attacking display of the season and the first time they had failed to score.
From BBC ● Oct. 31, 2026
Wilson chose the Brooklyn Hospital Center over Wood- hull Medical and Mental Health Center, the city-run hospital that serves three of Brooklyn’s poorest neighborhoods.
From "Class Matters" by The New York Times
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