impoverished

adjective

im·​pov·​er·​ished im-ˈpä-v(ə-)risht 

1

: reduced to poverty : poor

an impoverished family/community

2

: exhausted of richness or fertility

impoverished soils

3

of a fauna or flora : represented by few species or individuals

Synonyms of impoverished

• poor
• broke
• beggared
• deprived
• bankrupt

Examples of impoverished in a Sentence

the widespread hope that the lottery's record-setting jackpot is won by an impoverished family

an impoverished field that over the years had been overgrazed

Recent Examples on the Web

Community partners have long made efforts to provide snacks for elementary schools serving Kansas City’s most impoverished areas. —Matthew Kelly, Kansas City Star, 13 Nov. 2025

Even if climate change does not trigger a full-fledged economic panic, whole regions will be thinned out and impoverished. —Vann R. Newkirk Ii, The Atlantic, 10 Nov. 2025

The name belonged to a London area with printing shops, booksellers and cheap lodgings where impoverished writers churned out pamphlets, satires, political tracts, sensational stories and hack journalism—whatever sold. —Deni Ellis Béchard, Scientific American, 8 Nov. 2025

All the struggling, impoverished Californians who wish their lives were better? —U T Editorial Board, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1611, in the meaning defined at sense 1