poor white

noun

often disparaging + offensive

: white trash

Examples of poor white in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Through techniques like poll taxes and literacy tests, Southern states severely restricted the franchise, effectively stripping Black and poor white Southerners of their voting rights. — John Hayes, The Conversation, 9 Sep. 2026

In the 1890s, at the height of the Gilded Age, Southern states rewrote their constitutions to disenfranchise poor whites and Black citizens alike, specifically to crush the rising Populist movement. — Sarita Gupta, Time, 2 June 2026

The lyrics went beyond Evers’ white-supremacist killer, indicting an entire system that brainwashed poor white Southerners into hatred. — Brian Hiatt, Rolling Stone, 1 Feb. 2026

Jennette McCurdy, in particular, rose from the same poor white background as Temple and was driven by the same sort of stage mother. — Adam Gopnik, New Yorker, 20 Oct. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1819, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for poor white

• affright
• airtight
• albite
• alight
• alright
• aplite
• aright
• bainite
• birthright
• bobwhite
• bornite
• bullfight