dirt poor
adjective
lacking nearly all material means or resources for living.
dirt poor
Americanadjective
dirt-poor
British
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, had big Scottish accents at the time, a family of six siblings, and then coming to very conventional suburban schools,” he said, the memory eliciting a wild-card smile.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 8, 2026
“We were dirt poor so I couldn’t afford to go to the movies often,” he told the AP in 1998.
From Seattle Times • Jun. 30, 2023
He had grown up dirt poor in what is now South Korea, then occupied by Japan.
From Science Magazine • May 3, 2023
"Patients who were put in there were dirt poor," said Clare Blackmore, one of the volunteers.
From BBC • Feb. 26, 2023
Ancient farmers might seem to us dirt poor, but a typical family possessed more artefacts than an entire forager tribe.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
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.
