- Having little or no wealth and few or no possessions.
- Lacking in a specified resource or quality: an area poor in timber and coal; a diet poor in calcium.
- Not adequate in quality; inferior: a poor performance.
- Lacking in value; insufficient: poor wages.
- Lacking in quantity: poor attendance.
- Lacking fertility: poor soil.
- Undernourished; lean.
- Humble: a poor spirit.
- Eliciting or deserving pity; pitiable: couldn't rescue the poor fellow.
People with little or no wealth and possessions considered as a group: The urban poor are in need of homes.
[Middle English poure, from Old French povre, from Latin pauper.]
poorness poor'ness n.SYNONYMS poor, indigent, needy, impecunious, penniless, impoverished, poverty-stricken, destitute. These adjectives mean lacking the money or the means for an adequate or comfortable life. Poor is the most general: "Resolve not to be poor: whatever you have, spend less. Poverty is a great enemy to human happiness" (Samuel Johnson). Indigent and needy refer to one in need or want: indigent people living on the street; distributed food to needy families. Impecunious and penniless mean having little or no money: "Certainly an impecunious Subaltern was not a catch" (Rudyard Kipling). He made poor investments which left him penniless. One who is impoverished has been reduced to poverty: an impoverished, third-world country. Poverty-stricken means suffering from poverty and miserably poor: refugees living in poverty-stricken camps. Destitute means lacking any means of subsistence: tenants left destitute by the fire.
USAGE NOTE In informal speech poor is sometimes used as an adverb, as in They never played poorer. In formal usage more poorly would be required in this example.
