beggary
Americannoun
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a state or condition of utter poverty.
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beggars collectively.
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a place lived in or frequented by beggars.
noun
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extreme poverty or need
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the condition of being a beggar
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of beggary
1350–1400; Middle English beggerie. See beggar, -y 3 ( def. )
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.
Victims of enclosure could toil as day laborers, work in the woolen industry, or turn to beggary and crime.
From Textbooks • Jan. 18, 2018
“We started our drive against the menace of beggary three months back.”
From The Guardian • Nov. 27, 2017
But when their booty-laden wagons trundled away, they left behind a city reduced to beggary.
From Time Magazine Archive
I had resolved at a very early stage never to be reduced to any form of emotional beggary, never to plead, never to impose guilt, and never to consider the world well lost for love.
From Time Magazine Archive
So he appealed to them, one after another, going from left to right, with open palm, as though his life time had been spent in beggary.
From "The Odyssey" by Homer
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.
