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"
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
The Other Side
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
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:
“I’m just a beggar that found food, and I’m telling everybody where it is,” Jackson said.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 26, 2026
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
"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
That young man had noticed nothing until instead of the old beggar a majestic-looking person returned to him.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
The novel illuminates the makeshift community cultivated among the beggars, who maintain their own hierarchy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 8, 2026
She told MSPs that a new track would not have received planning permission, adding it "beggars belief" parliament found time to debate a bill that does "little or nothing" for greyhound safety.
From BBC ● Mar. 18, 2026
"You go into the hospital and there's sepsis posters on lifts and walls but if their actual frontline staff can't recognise the symptoms of sepsis, it just beggars belief," said Jane.
From BBC ● Feb. 9, 2026
"Common people, business owners — even beggars — are now fed up. Justice has been sent into exile."
From Barron's ● Feb. 9, 2026
As for the park itself, it was an American version of a Middle Eastern bazaar, with folk singers, storytellers, beggars, political dissidents, soapbox orators, and even the occasional snake charmer.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
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
The short-ball plan was hatched in desperation and England's compliance in their own downfall beggared belief.
From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2023
But the soaring price of shipping beggared that strategy.
From New York Times ● Feb. 3, 2023
If you thought the scot-free museum heist beggared belief, then you underestimate Elektra and her imagination.
From Salon ● May 2, 2021
The teeth in their sockets like dental molds, the crude tattoos etched in some homebrewed woad faded in the beggared sunlight.
From "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy
"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
Government has at length interfered, and these last, hired by companies paying a certain sum for the privilege of beguiling and beggaring visitors, were to be closed now in two years, I think, or less.
From An American Girl Abroad by Adeline Trafton
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
