beggar
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
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to reduce to utter poverty; impoverish.
The family had been beggared by the war.
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to cause one's resources of or ability for (description, comparison, etc.) to seem poor or inadequate.
The costume beggars description.
noun
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a person who begs, esp one who lives by begging
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a person who has no money or resources; pauper
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ironic fellow
lucky beggar!
verb
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to be beyond the resources of (esp in the phrase to beggar description )
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to impoverish; reduce to begging
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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has beggaredperfect 3rd person singular
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have beggaredperfect
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is beggaringprogressive 3rd person singular
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have been beggaringperfect progressive
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has been beggaringperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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beggaringparticiple
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am beggaringprogressive 1st person singular
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are beggaringprogressive
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beggarssingular 3rd person
Past
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had beggaredperfect
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were beggaringprogressive plural
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was beggaringprogressive singular
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had been beggaringperfect progressive
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beggaredsimple
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beggaredparticiple
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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The Other Side
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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.
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
King Lear, bearing the brunt of a storm, looks at what he thinks is a mad beggar and wonders if “unaccommodated man” is no more than “a poor, bare, forked animal.”
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 20, 2025
"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
“But here, you see a beggar and you think to yourself, ‘He’s working for them,’” he added, referring to Pakistan’s powerful intelligence services.
From New York Times • May 19, 2024
I felt it was what was to be expected, and what could not be helped: an ordinary beggar is frequently an object of suspicion; a well-dressed beggar inevitably so.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
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.
