indigent
Americanadjective
-
lacking food, clothing, and other necessities of life because of poverty; needy; poor; impoverished.
- Synonyms:
- distressed, penurious, necessitous
-
Archaic.
-
deficient in what is requisite.
-
destitute (usually followed byof ).
-
noun
-
indigents
plural
adjective
-
so poor as to lack even necessities; very needy
-
archaic (usually foll by of) lacking (in) or destitute (of)
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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 ( cf. indagate) + -igēre, combining form of egēre “to need, lack”
Explanation
An indigent person is extremely poor, lacking the basic resources of a normal life. Often the indigent lack not only money but homes. Indigent comes from a Latin word meaning wanting, which we used to use to mean “lacking” and not just to describe desires. Homeless shelters, soup kitchens, free medical clinics and court-appointed lawyers are all institutions that our society has developed to help indigent people.
Vocabulary lists containing indigent
Just Mercy
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
100 SAT Words Beginning with "I"
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
This Week in Words: April 14 - 20, 2018
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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.
See Examples For:
Five years ago, Devi, the only daughter in a rural, indigent Sri Lankan family and a principal figure in Randy Boyagoda’s “Lords of Serendipity,” made the finals of a spelling competition.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
When the center was founded in 1971, it mainly did legal work for clients who were indigent or had civil-liberties complaints.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 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
Dueñas, a 2019 ruling from the state’s appellate division that found imposing mandatory fines on indigent people ran afoul of the 8th Amendment, which prohibits excessive fines along with cruel and unusual punishment.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 29, 2025
Approximately 80 percent of criminal defendants are indigent and thus unable to hire a lawyer.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
The law allows public defenders to represent only indigents.
From Washington Times ● May 1, 2019
By late afternoon, old indigents with hennaed beards filled many of the alleyways, prostrate in nests of discarded twigs.
From New York Times ● Apr. 8, 2019
When it becomes apparent, with the approach of evening, that the city cannot house all its indigents, those already in the library decide to stay there overnight.
From The New Yorker ● Apr. 5, 2019
Nothing fancy or pretentious at this humble site, a resting place established for city indigents in the 1870s.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 28, 2019
People swarming in, cities doubling and trebling in numbers of inhabitants, while the fiscal guardians groan over the increasing weight of improvements and the need to care for a large new spate of indigents.
From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
