as in impoverished
lacking money or material possessions
went from being a penniless girl to owner of her own restaurant
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Recent Examples of penniless
Meanwhile, Andrea was left nearly penniless to care for their four children, the youngest of whom was 3 at the time, and had to quickly figure out how the rest of her life would go.
—
Meredith Wilshere, People.com, 8 June 2025
To these penniless and amiably drunken men, every boozy beverage is always the last one — truly, for real this time, the last one — until the next one that usually comes right after.
—Tomris Laffly, Variety, 25 May 2025
Chicago Tribune 1924: After spending his final years living in the Hotel Warner at 33rd Street and Cottage Grove Avenue in Chicago, penniless and in rapidly declining health, architect Louis Sullivan died.
—Kori Rumore, Chicago Tribune, 14 Apr. 2025
Eugene was penniless and in debt to his sister to the tune of $2,000.
—Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, 31 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for penniless
Meredith Wilshere, People.com, 8 June 2025
To these penniless and amiably drunken men, every boozy beverage is always the last one — truly, for real this time, the last one — until the next one that usually comes right after.
—Tomris Laffly, Variety, 25 May 2025
Chicago Tribune 1924: After spending his final years living in the Hotel Warner at 33rd Street and Cottage Grove Avenue in Chicago, penniless and in rapidly declining health, architect Louis Sullivan died.
—Kori Rumore, Chicago Tribune, 14 Apr. 2025
Eugene was penniless and in debt to his sister to the tune of $2,000.
—Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, 31 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for penniless
Recent Examples of Synonyms for penniless
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
Adjective
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If it’s not broke, don’t fix it As one social media user said, bullying works.—
Rebecca Morin,
USA Today,
28 Aug. 2025
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She had been laid off from her job at Whole Foods in July 2005 and was practically broke when Katrina hit.—
Curtis Bunn,
NBC news,
27 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Penniless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/penniless. Accessed 10 Sep. 2025.
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