impoverished

American

[im-pov-er-isht, -pov-risht] / ɪmˈpɒv ər ɪʃt, -ˈpɒv rɪʃt /

adjective

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.

“The Worlds I See” is also a scientific autobiography, a compelling account of Li’s personal and intellectual journey from the impoverished circumstances of a Chinese immigrant family life to a wealthy and world-leading university lab.

From Los Angeles Times

Around 35 percent of Nigeria's gold deposits lie beneath impoverished northwestern villages, according to Ismail Suleiman, who owns a mining company that extracts minerals across the northwest.

From Barron's

The impoverished local Nama community living amid the environmental degradation in the far north-west of South Africa – also known as Namaqualand - wonder what has happened to the riches their land has yielded.

From BBC

Related: ‘She’ll let him live there for free’: My sister wants to buy our impoverished brother’s house.

From MarketWatch

The outcome isn’t clear in Honduras, an impoverished nation that relies heavily on U.S.-bound migrants.

From The Wall Street Journal

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023