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:
The tourists, impressive in setting up this decider on Thursday, were poor here.
From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2026
Between injuries and poor performance, Díaz lost the closer role.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2026
In these cases, screening may have offered little benefit because poor health or limited life expectancy meant that finding and treating the cancer was unlikely to improve health or extend life.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 26, 2026
We usually pay for our poor financial decisions, one way or another.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 26, 2026
“It’s tough to be a poor man, son,” he said, “it’s really tough.”
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
“We’ve found that older adults who report greater physical frailty and poorer sleep” are more prone to scams.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 25, 2026
Today’s Cuba is poorer, older and more racially mixed after years of having its population depleted by mass migration.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026
When facing questions from the committee, the tired-looking Patel did a much poorer job than Bondi of flinging insults at senators.
From Salon ● Sep. 18, 2026
It is much more nutrient-rich and that is bad news for this rare lowland heathland, where the traditional plants prefer poorer quality soil.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
Every stroke of the quill leaves me a little poorer... or would, if I were not a beggar to begin with.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
The black-white earnings gap among the poorest Americans shrank by 27% over two generations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026
The most marginalized and poorest may have no option but to stay behind.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 22, 2026
The poorest populations can’t access the technology required to use Bitcoin, so he had a message for the crypto developers present.
From Slate ● Sep. 20, 2026
For the next 16 years, he hardly owned any material possessions and worked for free as a high school teacher in San Francisco and throughout some of the poorest areas in the San Joaquin Valley.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
Vincent wants to bring Jesus to the poorest of the poor.
From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman
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.
