impoverished

[im-pov-er-isht, -pov-risht]

adjective

1. reduced to poverty.

2. (of a country, area, etc.) having few trees, flowers, birds, wild animals, etc.

3. deprived of strength, vitality, creativeness, etc..

   an impoverished attempt at humor.

Other Word Forms

• unimpoverished adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of impoverished¹

First recorded in 1625–35; impoverish + -ed ²

Synonym Study

See poor.

Example Sentences

Three people in Haiti have already been killed this week as storm bands from Melissa lashed the impoverished nation with heavy downpours, provoking landslides.

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He shocked many French in 2005 when he vowed to use a high-pressure Kärcher hose to “clean up” the country’s impoverished suburbs.

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The 51-year-old, who came to power after a military-backed coup in 2009, said he was "on a mission to find solutions" to the political crisis and would not let the impoverished nation "destroy itself".

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The protests erupted in September, initially focused on chronic power and water cuts in the impoverished country but developed into a broader anti-government movement that called for 51-year-old Rajoelina to resign.

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The country had a reputation as a marketplace where local middlemen paid impoverished mothers to hand over their infants.

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Related Words

• barren 
• destitute 
• distressed 
• indigent 
• needy 
• poverty-stricken 
• strapped