- past tense form of impoverish.
- past participle of impoverish.
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.
Synonym Usage
See poor.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of impoverished
First recorded in 1625–35; impoverish + -ed 2
Explanation
Impoverished describes being really, really poor, either from having no money or being in bad health. A person who lives on the street is impoverished, and a country may become impoverished after a devastating war. Impoverished comes from the Old French word povre, which means “poor,” and you can almost see the word poverty inside impoverished. Living an impoverished life means that your finances and health are not in good shape, and in fact you could die because you can’t support yourself. A corrupt and greedy government makes its citizens impoverished, and too much pollution will create impoverished soil that isn’t healthy enough to grow delicious vegetables.
Vocabulary lists containing impoverished
Hamilton
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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.
Montefiore, the author writes, later supported “the impoverished Jews in the Holy Land and in 1860 built the first Jewish village outside the walls of Jerusalem.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
Pruett, who gave birth to Landers’ father, Corky, at 15, had a tough and impoverished youth.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026
He was the genuine artifact, the son of an impoverished Minnesota miner; a lumberjack and a steelworker in his youth.
From Slate ● Sep. 18, 2026
The outages which have sometimes lasted 12 to 48 hours have plunged those living in the deeply impoverished country into steaming darkness at night.
From Barron's ● Sep. 17, 2026
A young transplanted Kentuckian living in an impoverished pocket of Cincinnati among families of similar background once said to me, “I never knew I was urban-Appalachian till I read it in a magazine.”
From "Class Matters" by The New York 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.
