poor relation
Britishnoun
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.
Bayswater was long considered the poor relation of its ultradesirable London neighbors Notting Hill and Marylebone, but new development is driving up home prices in the area.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 26, 2026
Though it can seem the poor relation of “real” television, the game show has a long history with the medium.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 31, 2023
According to the paper, citizenship is the "poor relation in the Northern Ireland Curriculum."
From BBC ● Apr. 14, 2022
His poor relation had always been an anomaly in the ranks of SPI employees, old among the young, emaciated among the luscious, a lonely figure, permanently out of step, everyone’s crazy grandpa.
From The New Yorker ● Jul. 22, 2019
Eunice Trevor had played the part of poor relation all her life, and the bread of dependence is both a dry and a bitter morsel in the mouth.
From In Jeopardy by Sutphen, Van Tassel
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.
