1
as in impoverished
lacking money or material possessions
every year, we make up a basket of food at Thanksgiving for a poor family in the neighborhood
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in desolate
producing inferior or only a small amount of vegetation
land that is too poor for farming
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in scarce
less plentiful than what is normal, necessary, or desirable
a poor crop because of the drought this year
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4
as in unacceptable
falling short of a standard
a pretty poor musician, even for a garage band
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5
as in terrible
of low quality
the poor workmanship of the goods from that store
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6
as in pitiful
deserving of one's pity
aw, the poor kitten hurt its paw
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of poor
As a resource-poor island nation, Japan has grown wary of dependence on volatile global gas and coal markets.
—
Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 27 Jan. 2026
Scientists know that menopause can cause a myriad of neurological symptoms, from hot flashes to poor sleep to depression.
—Jackie Flynn Mogensen, Scientific American, 27 Jan. 2026
Some universities are now dumping buyout funds at discounts following years of poor returns, while public stocks have outperformed the asset class.
—Phil Serafino, Bloomberg, 27 Jan. 2026
Countries with poor rule of law—like Venezuela and Afghanistan—consistently rank poorly among key well-being factors.
—Jake Angelo, Fortune, 27 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for poor
Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 27 Jan. 2026
Scientists know that menopause can cause a myriad of neurological symptoms, from hot flashes to poor sleep to depression.
—Jackie Flynn Mogensen, Scientific American, 27 Jan. 2026
Some universities are now dumping buyout funds at discounts following years of poor returns, while public stocks have outperformed the asset class.
—Phil Serafino, Bloomberg, 27 Jan. 2026
Countries with poor rule of law—like Venezuela and Afghanistan—consistently rank poorly among key well-being factors.
—Jake Angelo, Fortune, 27 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for poor
Recent Examples of Synonyms for poor
Adjective
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Surely my imagination was not so impoverished?—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
29 Jan. 2026
-
They are fascinated by this impoverished district of docks and shabby warehouses, associated in the popular imagination with Asian sailors, white slavery, and cholera.—
Hari Kunzru,
Harpers Magazine,
27 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Gibney illustrates that state of waiting, of staving off what at that time appears to be the inevitable, with the famous sequence from Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal, in which Max von Sydow’s medieval knight plays chess with Death on a desolate beach.—
David Rooney,
HollywoodReporter,
25 Jan. 2026
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Tautly written, this first novel by a former criminal lawyer who spent 17 years in the Arctic is a hard look at the desolate lives of people resigned to life in the bleak far north.—
Sandra Dallas,
Denver Post,
24 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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The capacity for attention on books is so scarce, more so every year.—
Fiction Non Fiction,
Literary Hub,
8 Jan. 2026
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And the buildout is putting stress on local water resources that communities worry will cause shortages, with 160 new facilities located in areas with scarce supply, according to Bloomberg.—
Rachyl Jones,
semafor.com,
7 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Antisemitism has no place in our city, and violence or intimidation against Jewish New Yorkers is unacceptable.—
Landon Mion,
FOXNews.com,
29 Jan. 2026
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These actions, coupled with her own words, reveal an unacceptable disdain for our constitutional system of checks and balances.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
27 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Huw is also a terrible planner, placing himself in dangerous situations for no discernible reason, refusing to ask for help or call the police at times when calling the police is the most glaringly obvious move, and generally not communicating with anyone.—
Erik Kain,
Forbes.com,
29 Jan. 2026
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At age 55, Riggle once suffered through decades of heartbreak and terrible Chiefs teams.—
Pete Grathoff,
Kansas City Star,
29 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Mercy came via a bye week, the pitiful Raiders and an inept Cowboys defense.—
Tom Krasovic,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
13 Jan. 2026
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Writer-director Craig Brewer resists the temptation to make Mike and Claire in any way pitiful or worthy of derision.—
Peter Tonguette,
The Washington Examiner,
9 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Corridors are bedecked in vivid wallpaper with oversized flora and animals, real and mythical, and the hotel’s art collection that meets your eye around every corner is a go-for-broke assemblage of everything from old-world oils to ambitious mixed media and 20th-century American photography.—
Arati Menon,
Condé Nast Traveler,
30 Jan. 2026
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Like Jane Eyre—a governess who fell for her affluent employer—Woodley’s character, a young single mother, is a broke outsider in an exclusive community.—
Judy Berman,
Time,
30 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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In 2016, a team led by Su Yinquan, dean of forestry at Northwest A&F University, leased 14 hectares of barren Gobi land in Xinjiang to test whether Duzhong could survive and grow there.—
Bojan Stojkovski,
Interesting Engineering,
31 Jan. 2026
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The president cites national security concerns—despite existing approvals to expand militarily—and the potentially rich natural resources on the icy, largely barren territory.—
Jordan Blum,
Fortune,
21 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Poor.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/poor. Accessed 1 Feb. 2026.
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