indigent
[in-di-juh nt]
- lacking food, clothing, and other necessities of life because of poverty; needy; poor; impoverished.
- Archaic.
- deficient in what is requisite.
- destitute (usually followed by of).
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- a person who is indigent.
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Origin of indigent
Synonyms
See more synonyms for indigent on Thesaurus.com1. necessitous, penurious, distressed.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for indigent
Contemporary Examples
The lawyers of ArchCity Defenders specialize in representing the indigent and the homeless.
In addition, many Texans believed that the role of helping the indigent belonged to the church.
She emphasizes that the indigent detainees who will benefit from this program are not all undocumented.
Herrera is seeking to have the city reimbursed for its care of indigent patients it claims were dumped there by Nevada.
In New York, state law has authorized courts to appoint lawyers on behalf of indigent criminal defendants since 1881.
Historical Examples
Fancy a school for novelists, with night classes for indigent poets!
The Dominant StrainAnna Chapin Ray
The windows without curtains had an indigent, sleepless look.
Under Western EyesJoseph Conrad
Whoever has need of another is indigent, and assumes a posture.
Diderot and the EncyclopdistsJohn Morley
At one period he realised about £10,000, but he was latterly unfortunate and indigent.
He summed up in a disparaging glance the background of indigent furniture.
The TouchstoneEdith Wharton
indigent
- so poor as to lack even necessities; very needy
- (usually foll by of) archaic lacking (in) or destitute (of)
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- an impoverished person
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Word Origin
C14: from Latin indigēre to need, from egēre to lack
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for indigent
adj.
c.1400, from Old French indigent, from Latin indigentem (see indigence). As a noun, "poor person," from early 15c.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper