pauper

noun

pau·per ˈpȯ-pər

: a person destitute of means except such as are derived from charity

specifically : one who receives aid from funds designated for the poor

paupers on welfare

: a very poor person

you'll end up a pauper on skid row

Robert Bixby

pauperism

ˈpȯ-pə-ˌri-zəm

noun

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web Or live like an abject pauper and park in the driveway.

Ray Magliozzi, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 June 2022 De León noted that when Villaraigosa beat incumbent Hahn in 2005, Hahn was a pauper compared with Caruso.

Steve Lopezcolumnist, Los Angeles Times, 28 May 2022 Touching on the completely unhinged nature of the privileged and the pauper when pushed to the brink, social structures are called into question, the elite and working-class each struggling to avoid collateral damage.

Holly Jones, Variety, 2 Apr. 2022 Miles, the eldest, is a top lawyer and yuppie who becomes a drug addict and pauper, then turns his life around and becomes a state senator.

Mark Greif, The Atlantic, 15 Mar. 2022 No one was charged with Randolph’s murder and his body was buried in an unmarked grave in the pauper’s cemetery of the local almshouse.

Clint Smith, The Atlantic, 2 Feb. 2022 If the ashes are not picked up, the county buries them together in a single pauper’s grave.

Justin Ray, Los Angeles Times, 1 Dec. 2021 If the ashes are not picked up, the county buries them together in a single pauper’s grave.

Justin Ray, Los Angeles Times, 1 Dec. 2021 Poe was a pauper in his lifetime, but now that his work is out of copyright and anyone can reprint it for free, his popularity is flourishing as never before.

Catherine Baab-muguira, WSJ, 22 Oct. 2021 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'pauper.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.