penury

noun pen·u·ry \ ˈpen-yə-rē \

Updated on: 1 Mar 2018

Definition of penury

1 : a cramping and oppressive lack of resources (such as money); especially : severe poverty

2 : extreme and often stingy frugality

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Examples of penury in a Sentence

lived in a time when single women like herself faced a lifetime of genteel penury

Recent Examples of penury from the Web

The penury of workers has led several retailers to raise wages and benefits.

— phil wahba, Fortune, "Home Depot and Lowe's Are Hiring 130,000 Temps for the Spring Rush," 14 Feb. 2018
Today government benefits and pension payments spare people the horrible choice between moving or penury.

— The Economist, "Left in the lurchGlobalisation has marginalised many regions in the rich world," 21 Oct. 2017
One key finding: Most of the progress was not bought by donors, but came organically as hundreds of millions of people scrambled out of the most abject tiers of penury.

— donald g. mcneil jr., New York Times, "Bill and Melinda Gates Grade the World’s Health," 18 Sep. 2017
No democratic government could ever plunge its people into penury and hope to stay in power.

— The Economist, "How long can Venezuela avoid default?," 2 Nov. 2017
In a time of digital penury, nobody wants to discourage journalistic enterprise, but a new risk reveals itself: Look at how the Post festoons its report with what can only be called marketing—graphics, video and charts out the wazoo.

— holman w. jenkins, WSJ, "Big (and Hurting) Media on Drugs," 20 Oct. 2017
Before now, the concerns of the associate professor of politics at Drexel University trended mainly to spreading the gospel of the Bolivarian Revolution, the disaster that has reduced Venezuela to penury and violence.

— theodore kupfer, National Review, "No, George Ciccariello-Maher Doesn’t Believe in Academic Freedom," 12 Oct. 2017
If Social Security—a venerable entitlement that has spared millions from penury—bears some resemblance to a Ponzi scheme, then perhaps Ponzi principles are not always as diabolical as the name suggests.

— The Economist, "Kicking the can down an endless road," 31 Aug. 2017
Hudson at first found only penury and illness, a bearded figure in threadbare clothes, impoverished and solitary, attempting to eke out life as a writer.

— javier pierini, Smithsonian, "The Naturalist Who Inspired Ernest Hemingway and Many Others to Love the Wilderness," 29 May 2017

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

Did You Know?

The exact meaning of "penury" (from Latin penuria, meaning "want") can vary a bit from context to context. It sometimes has had a broad sense of "lack" or "scarcity," as when one character remarks on another's "penury of conversation" in Jane Austen's Emma. It can also mean "frugality," as in Edith Wharton's description of an excessively thrifty hostess in The Age of Innocence: "Her relatives considered that the penury of her table discredited the Mingott name, which had always been associated with good living." The most common sense of "penury," however, is simply "poverty," as in Shakespeare's As You Like It: "Shall I keep your hogs, and eat husks with them? What prodigal portion have I spent that I should come to such penury?"

Origin and Etymology of penury

Middle English, from Latin penuria, paenuria want; perhaps akin to Latin paene almost

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First Known Use: 14th century

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penury Synonyms

Synonym Discussion of penury

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.