Synonyms of impecunious

impecunious

adjective

ˌim-pi-ˈkyü-nyəs 

as in impoverished

lacking money or material possessions

they were so impecunious that they couldn't afford to give one another even token Christmas gifts

Synonyms & Similar Words

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

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of impecunious

Cowley graduated in 1920, and for a year and a half lived an adventurous, impecunious Grub Street life in New York, before a fellowship took him, now married, back to France for a master’s in French. —Michael Gorra, The Atlantic, 4 Nov. 2025

Lillian Feldman was born to impecunious Jewish emigres in Cincinnati on July 13, 1927, the twelfth of thirteen children who were encouraged by their mother to draw on the walls. —News Desk, Artforum, 17 Oct. 2024

Among them is the sardonic confidant, St. Quentin; the down-at-the-heels military man, Major Brutt; and the impecunious, high-living chancer, Eddie. —Washington Post, 18 Nov. 2021

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