indigent
Americanadjective
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lacking food, clothing, and other necessities of life because of poverty; needy; poor; impoverished.
- Synonyms:
- distressed, penurious, necessitous
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Archaic.
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deficient in what is requisite.
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destitute (usually followed byof ).
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noun
adjective
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so poor as to lack even necessities; very needy
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archaic (usually foll by of) lacking (in) or destitute (of)
noun
Other Word Forms
- indigence noun
- indigently adverb
Etymology
Origin of indigent
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin indigent-, stem of indigēns “needing, lacking,” present participle of indigēre “to need, lack, be poor,” from ind-, variant of in- in- 2 ( indagate ) + -igēre, combining form of egēre “to need, lack”
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 state’s high court handed down a decision Monday that vacated court fines for an alleged prison gang leader, setting a precedent that advocates said will help indigent defendants in other cases.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 30, 2026
His 2001 land reform program redistributed government-owned and private land to indigent residents willing to cultivate it.
From Slate • Jan. 15, 2026
What galls her is that “it’s so often the case that a person with a disability has to make themselves indigent in order to qualify for what they need,” Smith said.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 21, 2024
And in North Carolina, the campaign is narrowly focused on promoting Democrats’ successful efforts to expand Medicaid, which will extend nearly-free government health insurance to thousands of people and reduce the indigent population for hospitals.
From Seattle Times • May 19, 2024
Soon after Mayor Clarkson heard Rush’s news that yellow fever had reappeared, he tried to address the problem of indigent individuals.
From "An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793" by Jim Murphy
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.
