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 first approach argues for “indoor relief,” placing individuals primarily in institutions like poorhouses, or today’s public shelters.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 11, 2026

I recently read Dorothea Dix’s 1843 report on her investigation into the care of mentally ill people in poorhouses and prisons in Massachusetts.

From Washington Post • Nov. 23, 2022

That attitude can be seen in the harsh, inhumane workhouses and poorhouses that used to be common features of life in Great Britain and the United States.

From Salon • Oct. 27, 2021

Churches also used enslaved people in poorhouses to take care of orphans, the disabled or elderly, and hired them out to any business or enterprise that wanted their labor.

From Washington Times • Aug. 8, 2020

The prisons, jails, poorhouses and asylums are crowded.

From The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 4 (of 12) Dresden Edition?Lectures by Ingersoll, Robert Green