1
as in weak
lacking bodily strength
I'm over the flu, but I still feel down-and-out
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in impoverished
lacking money or material possessions
a soup kitchen where the down-and-out daily line up for a hot meal
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
variants
or down-and-outer
as in have-not
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Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of down-and-out
Baz Bamigboye, Deadline, 13 Feb. 2026
The first pictures McCullin took were of hoodlums and down-and-outs, subjects that reflected his own hardscrabble background.
—Andrew Pulver, Air Mail, 31 Jan. 2026
While the aggressively noirish script (by Kubrick and his friend Howard Sackler, who had also written Fear and Desire) about a down-and-out boxer who falls for a gangster’s moll sometimes comes off like a parody, Kubrick is clearly coming into his own here as an artist.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 31 Dec. 2025
Denver Broncos at Kansas City Chiefs — Coming off their first loss since September, the Broncos get a down-and-out Chiefs team playing its third-string quarterback.
—Jim Reineking, USA Today, 25 Dec. 2025
The feature is based on the 2018 documentary of the same name that told the story of a down-and-out fighter who becomes involved with one of the country’s top youth boxing programs.
—Aaron Couch, HollywoodReporter, 25 Nov. 2025
Shroud killed Robert’s dad and now the down-and-out hero is on the warpath.
—Christopher Cruz, Rolling Stone, 22 Oct. 2025
And those Berger hallmarks are certainly on display in the new one, a drama about a dandy named Lord Doyle, a down-and-out con man and gambling addict on the brink of a breakdown in the kitschy gaming hub of Macau.
—Glenn Whipp, Boston Herald, 17 Oct. 2025
Gardin showed us a country where the medieval and the modern, the down-and-out and la dolce vita, seemed to coexist.
—Max Norman, New Yorker, 6 Sep. 2025
Adjective
Kupferer’s real-life mother, the splendid Tara Mallen, plays her seemingly down-and-out mom in Mouse.
—Baz Bamigboye, Deadline, 13 Feb. 2026
The first pictures McCullin took were of hoodlums and down-and-outs, subjects that reflected his own hardscrabble background.
—Andrew Pulver, Air Mail, 31 Jan. 2026
While the aggressively noirish script (by Kubrick and his friend Howard Sackler, who had also written Fear and Desire) about a down-and-out boxer who falls for a gangster’s moll sometimes comes off like a parody, Kubrick is clearly coming into his own here as an artist.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 31 Dec. 2025
Denver Broncos at Kansas City Chiefs — Coming off their first loss since September, the Broncos get a down-and-out Chiefs team playing its third-string quarterback.
—Jim Reineking, USA Today, 25 Dec. 2025
The feature is based on the 2018 documentary of the same name that told the story of a down-and-out fighter who becomes involved with one of the country’s top youth boxing programs.
—Aaron Couch, HollywoodReporter, 25 Nov. 2025
Shroud killed Robert’s dad and now the down-and-out hero is on the warpath.
—Christopher Cruz, Rolling Stone, 22 Oct. 2025
And those Berger hallmarks are certainly on display in the new one, a drama about a dandy named Lord Doyle, a down-and-out con man and gambling addict on the brink of a breakdown in the kitschy gaming hub of Macau.
—Glenn Whipp, Boston Herald, 17 Oct. 2025
Gardin showed us a country where the medieval and the modern, the down-and-out and la dolce vita, seemed to coexist.
—Max Norman, New Yorker, 6 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for down-and-out
Adjective
-
Bangladesh’s woes have not improved much since Hasina’s ouster, with high inflation and a weak taka currency combining to erode real incomes for ordinary households.—
Charlie Campbell,
Time,
13 Feb. 2026
-
Pinterest posted disappointing fourth-quarter results and gave weak guidance for first-quarter sales.—
Liz Napolitano,Darla Mercado, CFP®,
CNBC,
13 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Pilgrims also threw in coins as offerings, some later retrieved by impoverished people to survive.—
Norma Meyer,
Oc Register,
4 Feb. 2026
-
The penultimate episode saw Deathclaws descending on Freeside, an impoverished community on the fringes of New Vegas.—
Randall Colburn,
Entertainment Weekly,
4 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
With fewer homes available for median earners, today's housing market is widening the gap between the haves and have-nots, with younger Americans less likely to buy a home, the study says.—
Mike Winters,
CNBC,
21 Aug. 2025
-
Based on the video game from Bethesda Game Studios, Fallout is the story of haves and have-nots in a world in which there’s almost nothing left to have.—
Denise Petski,
Deadline,
18 Aug. 2025
Adjective
-
Infants and children under the age of 5, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems are most at risk for complications from measles exposure.—
Alexandra Simon,
CBS News,
5 Feb. 2026
-
The consumption of raw milk and other unpasteurized dairy products can cause serious health risks and be especially dangerous for people with weakened immune systems, according to the Food and Drug Administration.—
Thao Nguyen,
USA Today,
4 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Policymakers globally are increasingly worried that the unequal adoption of AI risks widening income and development gaps between rich and poor countries.—
Hanna Ziady,
CNN Money,
18 Feb. 2026
-
In November, Jesse Jackon was hospitalized again after suffering a fall while protesting poor campus living conditions with students at Howard University.—
Mary Kekatos,
ABC News,
17 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Lower than proletariat workers, the lumpenproletariat includes the indigent and the unemployable, those cast out of the workforce with no recourse, or those who can’t enter it in the first place, such as young workers in times of economic depression.—
Kyle Chayka,
New Yorker,
8 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
Lydia Romero strained to hear her husband’s feeble voice through the phone.—
Claudia Boyd-Barrett,
Los Angeles Times,
30 Jan. 2026
-
That said, international filmmaking is in feeble shape, partly because of the jambalaya of international co-productions, partly because of the inroads of television aesthetics, and partly because of the cloistered aestheticism of self-conscious art-house cinema.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
22 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
In fact many of the characters—even Big Gunna, one of the great larger-than-life paupers of Laxness’s oeuvre—did live in Mosfellsdalur and went by the names Laxness gives them in the book.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
11 Feb. 2026
-
Tate eventually moved in with her family, who rejected Austen; Austen moved to the Staten Island Farm Colony, a pauper’s hospital.—
Molly Fischer,
New Yorker,
22 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Down-and-out.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/down-and-out. Accessed 18 Feb. 2026.
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