penniless

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adjective pen·ni·less \ ˈpe-ni-ləs \

Definition of penniless

:destitute of money

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Examples of penniless in a Sentence

She was unemployed and penniless.
went from being a penniless girl to owner of her own restaurant

Recent Examples of penniless from the Web

Blind and penniless, Johnson played and preached on the streets to earn a living.

— dr. sandro galea, Time, "Racism Is Part of the Health Care Debate," 22 June 2017
A 2013 Gaston Gazette article reported Helms was penniless and his Belmont home was empty and in foreclosure.

— mark price, charlotteobserver, "Businessman jailed in Ponzi scheme now accused of killing Charlotte pedestrian," 20 June 2017
Pelle the Conqueror Penniless Swedes emigrate to Denmark in the late 1850s in hopes of finding work and starting a new life.

— chris ball, cleveland.com, "'Land of Mine,' Oscar nominee, now on DVD (review)," 13 June 2017
But two things make this small, counter-service spot special: One is a short documentary (watch it on YouTube) on owner Yassin Terou, a Syrian refugee who arrived in Knoxville penniless and started selling falafel sandwiches outside a local mosque.

— kathleen purvis, charlotteobserver, "9 great ways to get a taste of Knoxville," 8 June 2017
At the meager end of the Live.ly economy, penniless teenagers toil to scrape together enough to buy the cheapest gifts.

— amanda hess, New York Times, "The Teenage Life, Streamed Live and for Profit," 6 June 2017
Mr. Urie portrays Ivan Alexandreyevich Hlestakov, a jobless dandy and former minor clerk from St. Petersburg, who winds up penniless and suicidal in a remote village inn.

— ben brantley, New York Times, "Review: In ‘The Government Inspector,’ Dumb and Dumber, Deliciously," 1 June 2017
In the early 2000s, as Starbucks was expanding at light speed, lattes were supposedly the reason that Americans were penniless failures.

— maura judkis, charlotteobserver, "Is avocado toast breaking millennials’ bank?," 16 May 2017
Homeless and penniless, Grace moves her family into her dead mother-in-law’s home and gets a job at a doctor’s office.

— jocelyn mcclurg, USA TODAY, "Weekend picks for book lovers," 29 Apr. 2017

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