as in impoverished
lacking money or material possessions
growing up dirt-poor in the rural South
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Recent Examples of dirt-poor
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
My mom grew up with very-not-amicably divorced parents, one of whom (her father) was well-off and the other (her mother, the primary parent) was dirt-poor.
—R29 Team, refinery29.com, 12 Aug. 2024
Like their grandmother, the village girl from Italy’s dirt-poor south who morphed into a sophisticated Parisian muse, the siblings’ identities are hard to pin down.
—Mark Ellwood, Robb Report, 3 Aug. 2024
However, through decades of hard work, focus and persistence, the dirt-poor farm laborer became a space traveler.
—Contributing Writer, Orange County Register, 23 Apr. 2024
When Nitish Kumar became chief minister of the dirt-poor Indian state of Bihar in 2005, kidnapping was said to be the leading industry in the capital city of Patna.
—Ruchir Sharma, Foreign Affairs, 12 Aug. 2013
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
My mom grew up with very-not-amicably divorced parents, one of whom (her father) was well-off and the other (her mother, the primary parent) was dirt-poor.
—R29 Team, refinery29.com, 12 Aug. 2024
Like their grandmother, the village girl from Italy’s dirt-poor south who morphed into a sophisticated Parisian muse, the siblings’ identities are hard to pin down.
—Mark Ellwood, Robb Report, 3 Aug. 2024
However, through decades of hard work, focus and persistence, the dirt-poor farm laborer became a space traveler.
—Contributing Writer, Orange County Register, 23 Apr. 2024
When Nitish Kumar became chief minister of the dirt-poor Indian state of Bihar in 2005, kidnapping was said to be the leading industry in the capital city of Patna.
—Ruchir Sharma, Foreign Affairs, 12 Aug. 2013
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dirt-poor
Adjective
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Shooting scenes in wide or medium shots that sometimes break into Hsiao-Lee’s harrowing point-of-view, cinematographer Yu Jing-Pin depicts a world without much color or hope, while sets by Huang Mei-Ching and Tu Shuo-Feng emphasize a sad and impoverished existence.—
Jordan Mintzer,
HollywoodReporter,
4 Sep. 2025
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Each serves a high rate of students from impoverished households, and families within the schools' boundaries can choose to attend those schools or receive a bus to a second school option based on their address.—
Krista Johnson,
Louisville Courier Journal,
4 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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But prorating three years of player profits down to 12 months, as UEFA’s rule does, reduces the immediate efficacy of successful trading in the market, the very strategy that poorer clubs increasingly rely on to climb the ladder.—
Chris Weatherspoon,
New York Times,
5 Sep. 2025
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Like most extended car warranty providers, CarShield excludes pre-existing conditions that existed before your warranty took effect, as well as damage resulting from poor maintenance, neglect or intentional abuse.—
Brian Sloan,
CNBC,
4 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Dirt-poor.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dirt-poor. Accessed 10 Sep. 2025.
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