impoverish
[im-pov-er-ish, -pov-rish]
- to reduce to poverty: a country impoverished by war.
- to make poor in quality, productiveness, etc.; exhaust the strength or richness of: Bad farming practices impoverished the soil.
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Origin of impoverish
Synonyms
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comAntonyms
1, 2. enrich.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for impoverish
Contemporary Examples
These twin deficits enrich our frenemies and impoverish present and future Americans.
Rosner seemed to think such boycotts simply serve to impoverish our knowledge of these crucial issues.
Their basic claim is that if government spends more now, deficits will rise, and that will impoverish our grandchildren.
In short, deficits undertaken to finance productive investment not only do not impoverish our grandchildren, they enrich them.
Historical Examples
Giving does not impoverish either her ample purse or her generous heart.
Ernest LinwoodCaroline Lee Hentz
My want cannot impoverish that inexhaustible treasury of grace!
The Faithful PromiserJohn Ross Macduff
Instead of hallowing the life it will debase and impoverish it.
My Daily Meditation for the Circling YearJohn Henry Jowett
And you expect me to impoverish myself for the sake of Champney Googe?
Flamsted quarriesMary E. Waller
Each generation had done what it could to impoverish the land and never to improve it.
The Comings of Cousin AnnEmma Speed Sampson
impoverish
- to make poor or diminish the quality ofto impoverish society by cutting the grant to the arts
- to deprive (soil, etc) of fertility
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Word Origin
C15: from Old French empovrir, from povre poor
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for impoverish
v.
early 15c., empoverischen, from Old French empoveriss-, stem of empoverir, from em- + povre "poor" (see poor). Related: Impoverished; impoverishing.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper