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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

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

Organizer Ross Morales Rocketto discussed how many working-class and poor white men found the GOP candidate’s restoring masculinity approach appealing.

From Salon ● Jul. 30, 2024

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

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

Our neighbors were poor white and Black Americans, with a few recently arrived Cambodian families thrown in.

From New York Times ● Apr. 5, 2022

He was plagued by guilt for “selling out” the poor white community.

From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson

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

Doing the heavy lifting, however, were crew members — usually enslaved people, freedmen or poor White people — extraordinary watermen who poled their flotillas to market in Richmond.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 10, 2022

In the early nineteenth century, agitated citizens called for the removal of property requirements for voting so poor White men could participate in government just as wealthy men could.

From Textbooks ● Jul. 28, 2021

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

From Salon ● Jul. 9, 2021

This formal ceremony over, they were indulged in another look at poor White and then taken away to meet later to "hear evidence and find a verdict."

From A Master Hand The Story of a Crime by Richard Dallas