indigence

noun

in·​di·​gence ˈin-di-jən(t)s 

: a level of poverty in which real hardship and deprivation are suffered and comforts of life are wholly lacking

Did you know?

Is your vocabulary impoverished by a lack of synonyms for indigence? We can help. Poverty, penury, want, and destitution all describe the state of someone who is lacking in key resources. Poverty covers the range from severe lack of basic necessities to an absence of material comforts ("the refugees lived in extreme poverty"). Penury suggests a cramping or oppressive lack of money ("illness condemned him to years of penury"). Want and destitution imply extreme, even life-threatening, poverty ("lived in a perpetual state of want"; "the widespread destitution in countries beset by famine"). Indigence, which descends from a Latin verb meaning "to need," implies seriously straitened circumstances and usually connotes the endurance of many hardships and the lack of comforts.

Synonyms

• poverty
• impoverishment
• pauperism

Choose the Right Synonym for indigence

poverty, indigence, penury, want, destitution mean the state of one with insufficient resources.

poverty may cover a range from extreme want of necessities to an absence of material comforts.

the extreme poverty of the slum dwellers

indigence implies seriously straitened circumstances.

the indigence of her years as a graduate student

penury suggests a cramping or oppressive lack of money.

a catastrophic illness that condemned them to years of penury

want and destitution imply extreme poverty that threatens life itself through starvation or exposure.

lived in a perpetual state of want

the widespread destitution in countries beset by famine

Examples of indigence in a Sentence

there are various state and federal programs to help relieve indigence

Recent Examples on the Web

His legal team also filed a separate motion requesting a public defender be assigned to his case, citing indigence. —Jessica Sager, People.com, 8 Mar. 2025

His legal team also filed a separate motion requesting a public defender be assigned to his case, citing indigence. —Jessica Sager, People.com, 8 Mar. 2025

The ceaseless movement of staff around the world compounds this nebulous sensation of perpetual indigence. —Nick Foulkes, theweek, 7 Nov. 2024

The Misses Arkell had been prepared, as the Professor put it, to minister to his spiritual indigence; but while there was much to be done in the way of instruction, they were reluctantly obliged to admit that exhortation and admonition were superfluous. —Edith Wharton, The Atlantic, 9 Nov. 2020

Splendor and indigence are equally familiar to him; prudence and shame are equally alien. —Judith Thurman, The New Yorker, 20 June 2022

Black and Hispanic Americans escaped indigence in record numbers. —Washington Post, 18 Mar. 2022

His children, three former child prodigies, are to blame for his financial indigence. —CNN, 13 Dec. 2021

William Booth’s famous poverty maps, which the social reformer used to catalogue affluence and indigence in late Victorian London, don’t extend this far south. —Washington Post, 12 Feb. 2021

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined above

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Kids Definition

indigence

noun

in·​di·​gence ˈin-di-jən(t)s 

: poverty sense 1

Legal Definition

indigence

noun

in·​di·​gence ˈin-də-jəns 

: impoverished hardship and deprivation