Synonyms of dirt-poor

dirt-poor

adjective

ˈdərt-ˈpu̇r 

as in impoverished

lacking money or material possessions

growing up dirt-poor in the rural South

Synonyms & Similar Words

• impoverished
• poor
• broke
• poverty-stricken
• impecunious
• penniless
• beggared
• indigent
• bankrupt
• needy
• pauperized
• down-and-out
• destitute
• penurious
• deprived
• famished
• necessitous
• beggarly
• depressed
• needful
• threadbare
• hard up
• out of pocket
• out at elbows
• skint
• bankrupted
• disadvantaged
• underprivileged
• dispossessed
• distressed
• down on one's luck
• hardscrabble
• ruined
• unaffluent
• poorish
• insolvent
• hand-to-mouth
• bust
• reduced
• cash-strapped
• short
• pinched
• straitened
• low
• possessionless
• tapped out

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• wealthy
• rich
• affluent
• well-to-do
• moneyed
• opulent
• fat
• flush
• well-off
• prosperous
• fat-cat
• comfortable
• well-heeled
• silk-stocking
• deep-pocketed

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of dirt-poor

But the Shoutin’, Rick Bragg’s first family memoir about growing up dirt-poor in Alabama. — Literary Hub, 17 Sep. 2025

Many readers addressed their fan letters not to the author, Betty Smith, but to her main character, Francie Nolan, a dirt-poor tenement child with big dreams. — Perri Klass, The New Yorker, 30 Dec. 2024

Shot in a single take, Night Shift tells the story of a desperate and dirt-poor Khun (played by Chatchai), who decides to pack things up to have a better life in the city. — Sara Merican, Deadline, 31 Oct. 2024

Roberta Ceretto’s grandfather Riccardo moved to Alba in the 1930s from a dirt-poor village in the high Langhe and found work with a local wine producer. — Lee Marshall, Condé Nast Traveler, 10 Mar. 2022