indigence

[in-di-juhns]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR indigence ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

seriously impoverished condition; poverty.

RELATED WORDS

destitution, penury

Origin of indigence

1325–75; Middle English < Latin indigentia need. See indigent, -ence

Can be confusedindigence indigents

Synonyms for indigence

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR indigence ON THESAURUS.COM

privation, need, want, penury.

Antonyms for indigence

wealth.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for indigence

Contemporary Examples of indigence

But there are many more people balancing precariously on the verge of indigence.
A Dickensian Christmas For Greece’s New Poor
Barbie Latza Nadeau
December 22, 2013

Historical Examples of indigence

Our relations; who enjoyed all our property, had reduced us to indigence.
The Memoirs of Madame de Montespan, Complete
Madame La Marquise De Montespan
The luxury of one class is counterbalanced by the indigence of another.
Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience
Henry David Thoreau
You are better at home, under no compulsion to act dishonorably from indigence.
Museum of Antiquity
L. W. Yaggy
But at the same time we are assured that they were not left in indigence or necessity.
Great Men and Famous Women. Vol. 1 of 8
Various
Opulence and indigence were no more sympathetic than oil and vinegar.
A Tame Surrender, A Story of The Chicago Strike
Charles King

Word Origin and History for indigence

late 14c., from Old French indigence "indigence, need, privation" (13c.), from Latin indigentia "need, want; insatiable desire," from indigentem (nominative indigens), present participle of indigere "to need," from indu "in, within" + egere "be in need, want," from PIE *eg- "to lack" (cf. Old Norse ekla "want, lack," Old High German eccherode "thin, weak").