Definition of IMPECUNIOUS

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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."

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 on the Web

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. — Charles R. Morris, WSJ, "‘Energy’ Review: The Path to Power," 21 June 2018 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. — F. Kathleen Foley, latimes.com, "In Atwater, a dark secret at the center of 'Forever Bound'," 25 May 2018 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. — Holman Jenkins, WSJ, "Gambling Is Coming, So Get Ready to Hate Sports," 18 May 2018 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. — Special To The Washington Post, The Denver Post, "Robert Louis Stevenson’s “lost novel” is a fantastic voyage," 31 Mar. 2017 I.T. specialists, professionals and retirees are descending on the town, squeezing out the more chilled-out — and impecunious — population. — Tony Perrottet, New York Times, "36 Hours in Boulder, Colo. AUG. 18, 2016," 31 Aug. 2016

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.