poor

poor: poor [poor]

adj.

[ME pore < OFr povre < L pauper, poor < IE base * pōu-, small > FEW, FOAL]

1.

a) lacking material possessions; having little or no means to support oneself; needy; impoverished

b) indicating or characterized by poverty

2. lacking in some quality or thing; specif.,

a) lacking abundance; scanty; inadequate [poor crops]

b) lacking productivity; barren; sterile [poor soil]

c) lacking nourishment; feeble; emaciated [a poor body]

d) lacking excellence or worth; below average, inferior, bad, etc. or paltry, mean, insignificant, etc.

e) lacking good moral or mental qualities; mean-spirited; contemptible

f) lacking pleasure, comfort, or satisfaction [to have a poor time]

g) lacking skill

3. worthy of pity; unfortunate

——————

the poor

poor, or needy, people collectively

poorness

n.

SYN.- POOR is the simple, direct term for one who lacks the resources for reasonably comfortable living; impoverished (see IMPOVERISH) is applied to one who having once had plenty is now reduced to poverty [an impoverished aristocrat ]; DESTITUTE implies such great poverty that the means for mere subsistence, such as food and shelter, are lacking [left destitute by the war ]; IMPECUNIOUS applies to one in a habitual state of poverty and suggests that this results from personal practices [an impecunious gambler ]; INDIGENT implies such relative poverty as results in a lack of luxuries and the endurance of hardships [books for indigent children ] -ANT. RICH, WEALTHY

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Synonyms:

Indigent, needy, necessitous, pinched, straitened, The indigent, the needy / Miserable, wretched, unfortunate, luckless, ill-fated, ill-starred, unlucky, unhappy, pitiable / Meagre, insufficient, inadequate, scant, small / Faulty, unsatisfactory / Thin, scanty / Weak, feeble, flimsy / Penniless, moneyless, impecunious, destitute, distressed, poverty-stricken, seedy, reduced, short of money, out of money, without a penny, out of pocket, out of cash, out at the elbows, out at the heels, in need, in want, hard up, in distress, living from hand to mouth, not worth a farthing, not worth a sou, not rich, badly off, poorly off, Paupers / Emaciated, lean, thin, meagre, lank, gaunt, skinny, shrunk, fallen away / Barren, sterile, unfruitful, unfertile, unproductive, fruitless, unprolific / Trifling, trivial, slight, small, slender, flimsy, insufficient, inadequate, worthless, unimportant, of little use or worth, valueless, paltry / Unsound, infirm, feeble, delicate, weak, frail / Shabby, seedy, worthless, valueless, inferior, not good / Contemptible, despicable, paltry, mean, sorry, beggarly, pitiful, shabby, bad, low, inferior / Feeble, languid, weak, bald, tame, jejune, vapid, cold, frigid, dull, prosing, prosy, prosaic, spiritless, barren, mean, meagre, dry

Look at other dictionaries:

poor — W1S1 [po: US pur] adj comparative poorer superlative poorest ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ 1¦(no money)¦ 2¦(not good)¦ 3¦(sympathy)¦ 4¦(not good at something)¦ 5¦(health)¦ 6 poor in something 7 a poor second/third etc … Dictionary of contemporary English
Poor — Poor, a. [Compar. {Poorer} (?; 254); superl. {Poorest}.] [OE. poure or povre, OF. povre, F. pauvre, L. pauper; the first syllable of which is probably akin to paucus few (see {Paucity}, {Few}), and the second to parare to prepare, procure. See… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
poor — [ pur ] adjective *** ▸ 1 lacking money ▸ 2 of low quality ▸ 3 not good enough ▸ 4 not skillful ▸ 5 lacking something important ▸ 6 less than expected ▸ 7 feeling sorry for someone ▸ + PHRASES 1. ) having little money and few possessions: a poor… … Usage of the words and phrases in modern English
Poor — is an adjective related to a state of poverty, low quality or pity.People with the surname Poor: * Charles Henry Poor, a US Navy officer * Charles Lane Poor, an astronomer * Edward Erie Poor, a vice president of the National Park Bank * Enoch… … Wikipedia
poor — UK US /pɔːr/ US /pʊr/ adjective ► having little money and/or few possessions: »It s offering to pay off 10 percent of the poor countries debt. »He came from a poor immigrant family. ► not good or operating well, or of a low quality or standard:… … Financial and business terms
poor — ► ADJECTIVE 1) lacking sufficient money to live at a comfortable or normal standard. 2) of a low or inferior standard or quality. 3) (poor in) lacking in. 4) deserving pity or sympathy. ● the poor man s Cf. ↑the poor man s … English terms dictionary
poor — adj 1 Poor, indigent, needy, destitute, penniless, impecunious, poverty stricken, necessitous are comparable when they mean having less money or fewer possessions than are required to support a full life. Poor describes a person, a people, or an… … New Dictionary of Synonyms
poor — (adj.) c.1200, from O.Fr. poure (Fr. pauvre), from L. pauper poor, perhaps a compound of paucus little and parare to get. Replaced O.E. earm. The poor boy sandwich, made of simple but filling ingredients, was invented and named in New Orleans in… … Etymology dictionary
poor — [adj1] lacking sufficient money bad off*, bankrupt, beggared, beggarly, behind eight ball*, broke*, destitute, dirt poor*, down andout*, empty handed*, flat*, flat broke*, fortuneless, hard up*, impecunious, impoverished, indigent, in need,… … New thesaurus
Poor — ist der Familienname folgender Personen: Enoch Poor (1736–1780), Schiffbauer und Händler aus Exeter, Brigadegeneral der Kontinentalarmee im Amerikanischen Unabhängigkeitskrieg. Salem Poor (* 1758), afroamerikanischer Soldat, der für seine… … Deutsch Wikipedia

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poor

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