as in impoverished
lacking money or material possessions
poverty-stricken immigrants struggling to make ends meet
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Recent Examples of poverty-stricken
During and after the Great Depression, the Tennessee Valley Authority built dozens of hydroelectric dams, bringing electricity and flood control to the most remote and poverty-stricken hollows of Appalachia.
—
Bill Kearney, Sun Sentinel, 29 June 2025
That’s a long way from living in motels and stealing steaks from grocery stores during his more humble days of being poverty-stricken.
—Karu F. Daniels, New York Daily News, 28 Feb. 2025
At the time, Whitechapel was poverty-stricken and overcrowded, with over 76,000 people populating its dilapidated avenues and dwellings.
—Sam Walters, Discover Magazine, 18 Jan. 2024
Bill Kearney, Sun Sentinel, 29 June 2025
That’s a long way from living in motels and stealing steaks from grocery stores during his more humble days of being poverty-stricken.
—Karu F. Daniels, New York Daily News, 28 Feb. 2025
At the time, Whitechapel was poverty-stricken and overcrowded, with over 76,000 people populating its dilapidated avenues and dwellings.
—Sam Walters, Discover Magazine, 18 Jan. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for poverty-stricken
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
Cite this Entry
“Poverty-stricken.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/poverty-stricken. Accessed 11 Sep. 2025.
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