dirt poor
Americanadjective
adjective
Etymology
Origin of dirt poor
An Americanism dating back to 1935–40
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.
“We were dirt poor so I couldn’t afford to go to the movies too often, but I went whenever I could and focused in on movies as if they were more important than anything in life.”
From Los Angeles Times
“We were dirt poor so I couldn’t afford to go to the movies often,” he told the AP in 1998.
From Seattle Times
He had grown up dirt poor in what is now South Korea, then occupied by Japan.
From Science Magazine
"Patients who were put in there were dirt poor," said Clare Blackmore, one of the volunteers.
From BBC
“When I grew up dirt poor, museums were not for me,” said Eggers, who has been with the Burke for seven years now.
From Seattle Times
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.
