impoverished
Americanadjective
-
reduced to poverty.
-
(of a country, area, etc.) having few trees, flowers, birds, wild animals, etc.
-
deprived of strength, vitality, creativeness, etc..
an impoverished attempt at humor.
Related Words
See poor.
Other Word Forms
- unimpoverished adjective
Etymology
Origin of impoverished
First recorded in 1625–35; impoverish + -ed 2
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.
A charter member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, the nation exuded affluence and excess — though the wealth was mostly channeled to domestic elites and foreign oil companies, not the impoverished majority.
From Los Angeles Times
Michtom, who emigrated in 1888 from an impoverished shtetl in the Russian Pale of Settlement, noted that the czar “was never that humanitarian.”
Rubble is all that remains of the building once home to Adnan Mardash's grocery shop in north Lebanon's Tripoli after it collapsed, killing 14 people and shining a spotlight on the impoverished city's neglect.
From Barron's
The image was of two emaciated, impoverished South Asian children.
From BBC
Today, the Sudanese transport company Tarco operates daily crossings, carrying around 200 passengers per trip from the modern port of Suakin, within sight of the ancient city and its impoverished environs.
From Barron's
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.
