poor

[ poor ]

/ pʊər /

Save This Word!

See synonyms for: poor / poorer / poorest / poorness on Thesaurus.com

adjective, poor·er, poor·est.

having little or no money, goods, or other means of support: a poor family living on welfare.

Law. dependent upon charity or public support.

(of a country, institution, etc.) meagerly supplied or endowed with resources or funds.

characterized by or showing poverty.

deficient or lacking in something specified: a region poor in mineral deposits.

faulty or inferior, as in construction: poor workmanship.

deficient in desirable ingredients, qualities, or the like: poor soil.

excessively lean or emaciated, as cattle.

of an inferior, inadequate, or unsatisfactory kind: poor health.

lacking in skill, ability, or training: a poor cook.

deficient in moral excellence; cowardly, abject, or mean.

scanty, meager, or paltry in amount or number: a poor audience.

humble; modest: They shared their poor meal with a stranger.

unfortunate; hapless: The poor dog was limping.

noun

(used with a plural verb)Usually the poor . poor persons collectively: sympathy for the poor.

SYNONYMS FOR poor

1 needy, indigent, necessitous, straitened, destitute, penniless, poverty-stricken.

5 meager.

6 unsatisfactory, shabby.

7 sterile, barren, unfruitful, unproductive.

8 thin, skinny, meager, gaunt.

14 miserable, unhappy, pitiable.

See synonyms for poor on Thesaurus.com

ANTONYMS FOR poor

1, 5, 7 rich.

1, 3, 4 wealthy.

See antonyms for poor on Thesaurus.com

QUIZZES

THINK YOU’VE GOT A HANDLE ON THIS US STATE NICKNAME QUIZ?

Did you ever collect all those state quarters? Put them to good use on this quiz about curious state monikers and the facts around them.

Question 1 of 8

Mississippi’s nickname comes from the magnificent trees that grow there. What is it?

The Sunflower State

The Evergreen State

The Magnolia State

The Mockingbird State

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Idioms for poor

poor as a church mouse, extremely poor.

poor as Job's turkey, extremely poor; impoverished.

Origin of poor

First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English pov(e)re, from Old French povre, from Latin pauper; see pauper

synonym study for poor

1. Poor, impecunious, impoverished, penniless refer to those lacking money. Poor is the simple term for the condition of lacking means to obtain the comforts of life: a very poor family. Impecunious often suggests that the poverty is a consequence of unwise habits: an impecunious actor. Impoverished often implies a former state of greater plenty, from which one has been reduced: the impoverished aristocracy. Penniless may mean destitute, or it may apply simply to a temporary condition of being without funds: The widow was left penniless with three small children.

pronunciation note for poor

In the North and North Midland U.S., the vowel of poor is most often

[oo]. /ʊ/. Poor and sure thus contrast with pour and shore:

[poor], /pʊər/,

[shoor] /ʃʊər/ versus

[pawr], /pɔr/,

[shawr] /ʃɔr/ or

[pohr], /poʊr/,

[shohr]. /ʃoʊr/. In the South Midland and South, the vowel of poor is generally

[aw] /ɔ/ or

[oh] /oʊ/ (often with the final (r) dropped), which means that in these areas, poor and pour are homophones, as are sure and shore. Both types of pronunciation exist in the British Isles.

OTHER WORDS FROM poor

poorness, nounnon·poor, nounquasi-poor, adjectivequasi-poorly, adverb

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH poor

paw, poor , pore

Example sentences from the Web for poor

He was dwelling on his mistakes, replaying poor routes or missed assignments in his head on a loop.
For undrafted NFL rookies, the odds were even longer this year. Isaiah Wright made it anyway.|Sam Fortier|November 20, 2020|Washington Post
Like Westbrook, his poor outside shooting will hamper his ability to age gracefully.
NBA free agency tracker (plus trades): Warriors acquire Kelly Oubre; 76ers trade Al Horford to Thunder|Ben Golliver|November 20, 2020|Washington Post
They found that underspecification was to blame for poor performance in all of them.
The way we train AI is fundamentally flawed|Will Heaven|November 18, 2020|MIT Technology Review
This could be especially important for Congress, considering most Americans have a poor opinion of it.
How A Record Number Of Republican Women Will — And Won’t — Change Congress|Meredith Conroy|November 16, 2020|FiveThirtyEight

The lawsuits made it hard, if not impossible, for poor people to make ends meet.
Two ProPublica Projects Win Loeb Awards|by ProPublica|November 13, 2020|ProPublica
There the poorness of the plant itself, no less than the peculiar use of it, shows plainly what a stranger it is.
The Art of Drinking|Georg Gottfried Gervinus
It was a poor-looking little house, and its poorness had extended to its surroundings—as if poverty was a contagion that spread.
The Escape of Mr. Trimm|Irvin S. Cobb
The struggle after so-called delicacies comes from the poorness of common things.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 14, No. 86, December, 1864|Various
It is, of course, in the endeavor to counteract the poorness of the light that so long an exposure is frequently given.
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, January 1900|Various
I knew the state of Spain well—his weakness, his poorness, his humbleness at this time.
Great Ralegh|Hugh De Selincourt

British Dictionary definitions for poor

poor

/ (pʊə, pɔː) /

adjective

lacking financial or other means of subsistence; needy
(as collective noun; preceded by the)the poor

characterized by or indicating povertythe country had a poor economy

deficient in amount; scanty or inadequatea poor salary

(when postpositive, usually foll by in) badly supplied (with resources, materials, etc)a region poor in wild flowers

lacking in quality; inferior

giving no pleasure; disappointing or disagreeablea poor play

(prenominal) deserving of pity; unluckypoor John is ill again

poor man's something a (cheaper) substitute for something

Derived forms of poor

poorness, noun

Word Origin for poor

C13: from Old French povre, from Latin pauper; see pauper, poverty

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

MEANINGS

WORD GAMES

LEARN

WRITING

WORD OF THE DAY

poor

adjective, poor·er, poor·est.

noun

SYNONYMS FOR poor

ANTONYMS FOR poor

QUIZZES

THINK YOU’VE GOT A HANDLE ON THIS US STATE NICKNAME QUIZ?

Idioms for poor

Origin of poor

synonym study for poor

pronunciation note for poor

OTHER WORDS FROM poor

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH poor

Example sentences from the Web for poor

British Dictionary definitions for poor

adjective

Derived forms of poor

Word Origin for poor

MEANINGS

WORD GAMES

LEARN

WRITING

WORD OF THE DAY

poor

adjective, poor·er, poor·est.

noun

SYNONYMS FOR poor

ANTONYMS FOR poor

QUIZZES

THINK YOU’VE GOT A HANDLE ON THIS US STATE NICKNAME QUIZ?

Idioms for poor

Origin of poor

synonym study for poor

pronunciation note for poor

OTHER WORDS FROM poor

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH poor

Words related to poor

Example sentences from the Web for poor

British Dictionary definitions for poor

adjective

Derived forms of poor

Word Origin for poor