poverty

1 the state of lacking sufficient money or material possessions he dreamed of finding a good job and working his way out of poverty and debt Synonyms beggary, destituteness, destitution, impecuniosity, impecuniousness, impoverishment, indigence, necessity, need, neediness, pauperism, penuriousness, penury, poorness, want Related Words gutter, misery, woe, wretchedness; exigency; emergency, rainy day; austerity, deprivation, privation; bankruptcy, insolvency; belt-tightening, pinching, straitening Near Antonyms luxury, prosperity Antonyms affluence, opulence, richness, wealth, wealthiness

2 a falling short of an essential or desirable amount or number a poverty of information about the new policies Synonyms crunch, dearth, deficit, drought (also drouth), failure, famine, inadequacy, inadequateness, insufficiency, lack, lacuna, paucity, pinch, deficiency, scantiness, scarceness, scarcity, shortage, undersupply, wantRelated Words absence, omission; meagerness, poorness, skimpiness; necessity, need, privationNear Antonyms bountifulness, copiousness; excess, overabundance, oversupply, surfeit, surplusAntonyms abundance, adequacy, amplitude, opulence, plenitude, plenty, sufficiency, wealth