poorness

noun

Definition of poornessnext
as in poverty
the state of lacking sufficient money or material possessions each country has its own standard of poorness, and one nation's needy inhabitant can be another's fairly well-off citizen

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for poorness
  1. poverty
  2. impoverishment
  3. indigence
  4. penury
Noun
  • If their income is between one and two times the federal poverty level, Central Health pays the balance of their monthly premium after federal tax credits have been applied.
    — Olivia Aldridge, NPR, 23 Aug. 2026
  • Born in 1946, in a country recovering from a civil war and a world war, Rodríguez entered a life marked by poverty in the southern Spanish village of Añora.
    — Laura Sharman, CNN Money, 22 Aug. 2026
Definition of poverty
Noun
  • Just as with the Romans, we peasants are treated to a spectacle to distract us from the reality of the abject impoverishment of the social safety net and the abandonment of the poor.
    — Chicago Tribune, Chicago Tribune, 15 Aug. 2026
  • Despite the tremendous fear of living in a world where Black people are dealing with impoverishment, some of the characters develop an inexorable will to fight anti-Black oppression.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 27 July 2026
Definition of impoverishment
Noun
  • His legal team also filed a separate motion requesting a public defender be assigned to his case, citing indigence.
    — Jessica Sager, People.com, 8 Mar. 2025
  • The ceaseless movement of staff around the world compounds this nebulous sensation of perpetual indigence.
    — Nick Foulkes, theweek, 7 Nov. 2024
Definition of indigence
Noun
  • Trump has squeezed tight on the island’s already ailing economy, with a de facto blockade on the importation of oil bringing Cuba to virtual penury.
    — Niall Stanage, The Hill, 20 May 2026
  • Such claims of penury, however, were difficult to square with certain facts.
    — Patrick Radden Keefe, New Yorker, 13 Apr. 2026
Definition of penury
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

poor-mouths
poorness
poor-spirited
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Poorness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/poorness. Accessed 30 Aug. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?

Commonly Misspelled Words
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

Even More Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

The Words of the Week - Aug. 28

Why do we say 'break a leg'?
See More

Popular

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
skateboard-dog-hat
Wordmaxxing Slang Quiz Give your vocabulary a glow up by getting sendy w...
See All