poor

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adjective

1. Having little or no money or wealth: beggarly, destitute, down-and-out, impecunious, impoverished, indigent, necessitous, needy, penniless, penurious, poverty-stricken. Informal broke, strapped. Idioms: hard up, on one's uppers. See rich/poor.
2. Below a standard of quality: bad, bum¹, unsatisfactory. Idioms: below par, not up toscratchsnuff. See good/bad.
3. Of decidedly inferior quality: base², cheap, lousy, miserable, paltry, rotten, shoddy, sleazy, trashy. Informal cheesy. Slang crummy, schlocky. See good/bad.
4. Conspicuously deficient in quantity, fullness, or extent: exiguous, meager, puny, scant, scanty, skimpy, spare, sparse, stingy, thin. Slang measly. See big/small/amount, excess/insufficiency/enough.
5. Arousing or deserving pity: pathetic, piteous, pitiable, pitiful, rueful, ruthful. See pity.

adj

Definition: deficient, inadequate
Antonyms: adequate, sufficient, superior

adj

Definition: unfortunate, unhappy
Antonyms: fortunate, good, great, happy, lucky, satisfactory

adj

Definition: weak, unfertile
Antonyms: fertile, potent, strong, superior

adj

Definition: without much money
Antonyms: affluent, rich, wealthy

Poor ‘A decent provision for the poor’, declared Samuel Johnson, ‘is the true test of civilization.’ But identifying the poor with any precision has proved difficult for those wishing to help them and for historians wishing to study them.

Efforts to identify the poor using systematic measurements were attempted from the later 18th cent. onwards. Sir Frederick Eden attempted in 1797 to document the lives of the poor in terms of expenditure on food, fuel, clothing, and shelter, but his studies were criticized as unsystematic. Similar shortcomings were found in London Labour and the London Poor published by Henry Mayhew in 1851. Investigators of the London Statistical Society and the Manchester Statistical Society attempted to be more scientific by initiating studies of intakes per head of various commodities of food and drink, but it was not until 1886 that a survey of the budgets of a large sample of the London poor was undertaken by Charles Booth.

Booth's calculations rested on assumptions about the level of expenditure needed to maintain a healthy life. Even with disciplined expenditure on necessities only, his survey showed that almost 30 per cent of the population of London lived below ‘the poverty line’. Using similar criteria to Booth's, Seebohm Rowntree undertook a survey of the poor in York in 1900 and identified a similar proportion of the population living in poverty. Medical examinations of the men volunteering for military service in the Boer War and those serving in the two world wars provided evidence of the effects of long-term poverty. Such evidence was used to support the arguments in favour of comprehensive social welfare and of the ‘welfare state’ established during the 1940s.

IN BRIEF: Lacking riches or possessions.

Having been poor is no shame, but being ashamed of it, is. — Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), American entrepreneur, statesman, scientist and philosopher.

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sign description: One hand makes a downward motion off the opposite elbow.

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A state of agricultural animals of being thin or emaciated.

For a list of words related to poor, see:

• Economics and Economic Theory - poor: that portion of society with little wealth, low standard of living, and few opportunities
• Unappealing, Shabby, Messy, Poor, or Clumsy

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See words rhyming with "poor."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Poor.

Dansk (Danish)
adj. - fattig, ringe, stakkels, afdød
n. - de fattige

idioms:

• poor box    kirkebøsse
• poor man's    ubemidlet persons
• poor relation    fattig slægtning
• poor thing    stakkels ham/hende

Nederlands (Dutch)
armen, armelui, schraal, arm, armelijk, armoedig, armzalig, laag, pover, schamel, slecht, onvruchtbaar, ongunstig, incapabel

Français (French)
adj. - pauvre, mauvais, faible, défectueux, petit (appétit), faible (chance), mauvais (éclairage), maigre (insuffisant), mauvais (qualité insuffisante), piètre (consolation), pauvre (méritant la pitié)
n. - les pauvres

idioms:

• poor box    tronc des pauvres
• poor man's    (le champagne) du pauvre
• poor relation    (lit, fig) parent pauvre
• poor thing    (mon/ma) pauvre

Deutsch (German)
n. - Armen
adj. - arm, armselig, schlecht

idioms:

• poor box    Almosenbüchse
• poor man's    des kleinen Mannes
• poor relation    armer Verwandter
• poor thing    der Arme, armer Kerl

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. pl. - (οι) φτωχοί, (οι) άποροι
adj. - φτωχός, ενδεής, δυστυχισμένος, κακομοίρης, αξιολύπητος, καημένος, ταπεινός, αδύνατος, άθλιος, οικτρός, κακός, παρακατιανός, πενιχρός, ανεπαρκής, λιγοστός, δειλός

idioms:

• poor box    παγκάρι
• poor man's    δεύτερης ποιότητας
• poor relation    κατώτερος (σε ποιότητα, κύρος, ισχύ)
• poor thing    (τον) κακομοίρη!

Italiano (Italian)
poveri, povero, basso, meschino, cattivo

idioms:

• poor box    cassetta per l'elemosina
• poor man's    di scarso valore
• poor relation    parente povero

Português (Portuguese)
n. pl. - pobres
adj. - pobre, fraco

idioms:

• poor box    caixa de contribuições
• poor man's    dos pobres
• poor relation    relação pobre

Русский (Russian)
беднота, бедный, скудный, плохой

idioms:

• poor box    кружка для сбора пожертвований
• poor man's    дешевый
• poor relation    бедный родственник

Español (Spanish)
adj. - pobre, necesitado, desgraciado, indigente, mísero, bajo, mediocre, exiguo, escaso, malo, de baja calidad
n. - pobres, indigentes, pobre, necesitado, desgraciado, indigente, mísero, bajo, mediocre, malo

idioms:

• poor box    cepillo de los pobres, alcancía para limosnas
• poor man's    sustituto inferior o más barato
• poor relation    parientes pobres
• poor thing    pobrecito

Svenska (Swedish)
n. pl. - de fattiga
adj. - fattig, skral, ynklig, dålig, usel

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
贫穷的, 粗劣的, 贫困的, 蹩脚的, 穷人

idioms:

• poor box    慈善箱, 捐款箱
• poor man's    人或事物较小的较差的, 事物较廉价的较容易的
• poor relation    不好的关系
• poor thing    可怜的小东西

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 貧窮的, 粗劣的, 貧困的, 蹩腳的
n. - 窮人

idioms:

• poor box    慈善箱, 捐款箱
• poor man's    人或事物較小的較差的, 事物較廉價的較容易的
• poor relation    不好的關係
• poor thing    可憐的小東西

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 가난한, 하찮은
n. - 생활보호를 받는 사람

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 貧乏な, 乏しい, 貧弱な, 劣った, 下手な, 不毛の, 痩せた, 哀れな, 気の毒な, 亡くなった

idioms:

• poor box    救貧箱, 慈善箱
• poor man's    代用となる, お徳用の
• poor relation    劣っている人
• poor thing    同情するに値するもの, あわれな, かわいそう

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الجمع) فقير, فقراء, هزيل, زهيد, مسكين (صفه) جبان‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮עני, מסכן, עלוב, דל, ביש-מזל‬
n. - ‮עני‬

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