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
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.
Indigent defendants, who do not have the financial resources to pay their own legal fees, can rely on public defenders paid for by the government.
From Salon • Oct. 11, 2025
This time the lawyers were working with the Oklahoma Indigent Defense Services, and they really did no better job for Rich Glossip than that first trial.
From Slate • Oct. 16, 2024
The Texas Indigent Defense Commission, which oversees public defense throughout the state, was told to expect as many as 200 arrests each day, according to their planning document.
From Seattle Times • Sep. 30, 2021
J. Daran Burns, a Georgia lawyer, was appointed to represent Long by the Cherokee County Indigent Defense office, his firm said Thursday.
From Washington Post • Mar. 18, 2021
Two-thirds of all the applicants for relief at the Hospital for the Indigent Blind had lost their sight by small-pox.
From The Physical Life of Woman: Advice to the Maiden, Wife and Mother by Napheys, George H. (George Henry)
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.
