beggar
Americannoun
-
beggars
plural
verb (used with object)
-
beggars,
present (3rd person singular)
-
beggared,
past participle, past
-
beggaring
present participle
-
to reduce to utter poverty; impoverish.
The family had been beggared by the war.
-
to cause one's resources of or ability for (description, comparison, etc.) to seem poor or inadequate.
The costume beggars description.
noun
-
a person who begs, esp one who lives by begging
-
a person who has no money or resources; pauper
-
ironic fellow
lucky beggar!
verb
-
to be beyond the resources of (esp in the phrase to beggar description )
-
to impoverish; reduce to begging
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
beggarsimple
-
beggarssimple
-
have beggaredperfect
-
has beggaredperfect
-
am beggaringprogressive
-
are beggaringprogressive
-
is beggaringprogressive
-
have been beggaringperfect progressive
-
has been beggaringperfect progressive
Past
-
beggaredsimple
-
had beggaredperfect
-
was beggaringprogressive
-
were beggaringprogressive
-
had been beggaringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of beggar
First recorded in 1175–1225, beggar is from the Middle English word beggare, beggere. See beg 1, -er 1, -ar 3
Explanation
A beggar is a poor person who asks others, or begs, for money or food. Another word for a beggar is a "panhandler," although both terms are vaguely offensive. No one wants to be a beggar. Many people who are beggars are also homeless and haven't been able to find jobs. Sometimes people use the word in an informal, pitying way: "Poor little beggar, he works so hard!" Another informal term is "to beggar belief," as when something is so incredible that you find it hard to believe. Another expression is “beggars can’t be choosers” which means you get what you get and you don’t get upset.
Vocabulary lists containing beggar
Broke-abulary: Synonyms for "Poor"
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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.
See Examples For:
In several essays, including one titled “The Wandering Jew,” Elie Wiesel describes his friendship with a mysterious, charismatic sage who dresses like a beggar but whose Jewish learning enthralls all those who meet him.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026
Robbie’s most deliciously debasing scene is when she throws coins on the ground for a desperate beggar — and then that person forces her to watch as he picks them up.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 11, 2026
"It's just garbage... the clothes you can't even wear, you wouldn't even give to a beggar," Akoth said.
From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2025
“In any other country, if you see a beggar, it’s clear he’s a beggar,” said Habib Kareem, 26, a lawyer in Islamabad, the capital.
From New York Times ● May 19, 2024
You gave her things and then left her like a beggar on the street, and for what?
From "Breadcrumbs" by Anne Ursu
The Board of Deputies of British Jews has called on the Conservatives to ditch him as a candidate, saying the selection "beggars belief".
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026
“To that I can only say they are correct. It beggars belief.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 20, 2026
The survey looks at "everyday giving" which includes both direct, personal help - to beggars, family or friends, often seen as charity - and donations to organised, non-religious institutions, which are typically described as philanthropy.
From BBC ● Feb. 19, 2026
"Common people, business owners — even beggars — are now fed up. Justice has been sent into exile."
From Barron's ● Feb. 9, 2026
Then the father comes home, and apparently he loves beggars and pilgrims, too, and they all sit down to dinner.
From "Franny and Zooey" by J. D. Salinger
He said the "borderline belligerence" of the council beggared belief and the work should have been done in the evening with traffic lights.
From BBC ● Jun. 3, 2026
A worse sin, even, than Amin’s expulsion in 1972 of every last Ugandan Asian, an act that was wildly popular with black Ugandans but which beggared Uganda almost overnight.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2025
Even in a country used to royal spectacle, that parade beggared description: 19 military bands and 4,000 troops, stretching a full mile from the palace gates along the mall and around the corner into Whitehall.
From New York Times ● May 6, 2023
If you thought the scot-free museum heist beggared belief, then you underestimate Elektra and her imagination.
From Salon ● May 2, 2021
Harren had beggared the riverlands and the Iron Islands alike to ornament his dream.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
"It's beggaring the entire Forest Service budget," Safford said.
From Salon ● Mar. 1, 2022
But beggaring the workers who trusted promises made by their employers, their unions and their government is not the answer.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 9, 2018
It would have restricted development on grouse habitat, potentially beggaring states such as Wyoming which collects three-fifths of its revenues from energy companies.
From Economist ● May 3, 2018
Ervin was wounded twice during his 18 months in France, then earned a postwar degree from Harvard Law School, forever beggaring his self-description as "just a country lawyer."
From Time Magazine Archive
But go on, I have tried MY best to save you from beggaring yourself by your riotous charities—now for the thousandth time I wash my hands of the consequences.
From A Tramp Abroad — Volume 07 by Mark Twain
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.
