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• poor white
  poor white

  noun

  a member of a class of white people, especially of the southern U.S., having low social status and little or no money, property, or education.
• poor White
  poor White

  noun

poor white

American  

noun

Usually Disparaging and Offensive.

1. a member of a class of white people, especially of the southern U.S., having low social status and little or no money, property, or education.

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poor White British  

noun

1. offensive

   1. a poverty-stricken and underprivileged White person, esp in the southern US and South Africa

   2. ( as modifier )

      poor White trash

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Etymology

Origin of poor white

An Americanism dating back to 1810–20

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

poor white poor White

But his life story was just as compelling: a poor white kid entranced by Black hip-hop, a technical genius in love with rap music but justifiably uncertain of his place in it.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2023

Adeem addresses the grievances of poor white people they have called kin with empathy and exasperation on “My America.”

From New York Times ● Nov. 28, 2022

He wrote the bestseller “Hillbilly Elegy,” which touches on the abandonment of poor white people — even though he has a law degree from Yale and worked as a venture capitalist.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 28, 2022

"We cannot say that this is because of individual choices or behaviors. Something deeper is at work—systems that prey on the poor, poor white people, and poor people of color."

From Salon ● Apr. 5, 2022

Over in the poor white neighborhoods of East Durham, C.P. also lay awake, thinking about the evening.

From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson

In the United States, debt bondage was a common means by which southern farmers kept a labor force of African American people and poor White people at their disposal.

From Textbooks ● Dec. 14, 2022

Be3 f4! opens new lines of attack, and the poor White king is flushed out into the open after 27.

From Washington Times ● Nov. 15, 2022

The effort to create a better mix of rich and poor, White and non-White students in our schools was crumbling because of unfavorable court decisions when I started on this beat in the 1980s.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 19, 2021

Historically, the same sterilization programs that the Nation of Islam members evoke also purposefully targeted poor White people.

From Salon ● Jul. 9, 2021

In his mind, too, he carried a vivid picture of poor White, crouching in that wretched hut over an expiring blaze fed by the very last of their wood.

From Under the Great Bear by Munroe, Kirk