Definition of impecunious
: having very little or no money usually habitually : penniless
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impecunious was our Word of the Day on 07/29/2008. Hear the podcast!
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Examples of impecunious in a Sentence
they were so impecunious that they couldn't afford to give one another even token Christmas gifts
Recent Examples of impecunious from the Web
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Lord Dundonald, an impecunious earl with an inventive streak, patented the processing of smelting coke—a key development, converting coal to a nearly pure carbon state that produced an easy-to-work iron.
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To sum things up without any spoilers (though the big reveal comes not long into the play, so the term spoiler is relative), impecunious book scout Edmund (Stewart) is facing eviction.
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New Jersey, one of the most impecunious states in the union, was behind this week’s Supreme Court ruling overturning a federal ban on sports gambling.
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But first, some background: Aged 29, ink-stained and impecunious, Stevenson rented a garret at the top of a boarding house in San Francisco from December 1879 to April 1880.
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I.T. specialists, professionals and retirees are descending on the town, squeezing out the more chilled-out — and impecunious — population.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'impecunious.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Did You Know?
If impecunious means "penniless," then it stands to reason that "pecunious" can describe someone who has a lot of money. That is true, but "pecunious" is used with far less frequency in English than its opposite and is not found in many dictionaries. What's more, on the rare occasion when "pecunious" is put to use in English, it often means not "wealthy" but "miserly or ungenerous," as in "a pecunious attitude toward the less fortunate." "Impecunious" describes somebody who lacks the money to buy necessities, but it does not carry the connotation of desperation found in such words as "indigent" or "destitute." Both "pecunious" and "impecunious" derive via Middle English from the Latin pecunia, meaning "money."
impecunious Synonyms
Synonyms
beggared, beggarly, broke, destitute, dirt-poor, down-and-out, famished, hard up, impoverished, indigent, necessitous, needful, needy, pauperized, penniless, penurious, poor, poverty-stricken;
Antonyms
affluent, deep-pocketed, fat, fat-cat, flush, moneyed (also monied), opulent, rich, silk-stocking, wealthy, well-heeled, well-off, well-to-do;
Near Antonyms
Related Words
deprived, disadvantaged, dispossessed, underprivileged;
bankrupt, bankrupted, bust (or busted), insolvent;
depressed, distressed, hand-to-mouth, hardscrabble, pinched, reduced, straitened;
Phrases
down on one's luck, out at elbows (or out at the elbows), out of pocket;
IMPECUNIOUS Defined for English Language Learners
Definition of impecunious for English Language Learners
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: having little or no money
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Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for impecunious Spanish Central: Translation of impecunious Nglish: Translation of impecunious for Spanish speakers
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