underprivileged

adj.

Lacking opportunities or advantages enjoyed by other members of one's community; deprived.

underprivileged un'der·priv'i·leged n.

adjective

Economically and socially below standard: backward, depressed, deprived, disadvantaged, impoverished. See rich/poor.

noun

A person living under very unhappy circumstances: loser, miserable, underdog, unfortunate, wretch. See rich/poor.

adj, n

Definition: poor
Antonyms: privileged, rich, wealthy

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Origin: 1897

The notion of privileges for favored people--the wealthy, or those in the know, or those connected to the government--has been around as long as civilization. But the democratic notion of privileges for everyone came into its own in America with our adoption of the word underprivileged. To say someone is underprivileged is to imply that there is a standard of privileges to which everyone is entitled, privileges that have been unjustly withheld from the underprivileged. We find the word in the Princetonian in 1896: "It was very quiet in the little square that was filled with nurse-maids and children moving about inside the railings--several little underprivileged ones peering in at them from the outside." By 1897, we can assume that underprivileged was well on its way to establishing its place in our vocabulary.

A century later underprivileged itself began to seem too privileged. In the politically correct 1990s, underprivileged sounded too condescending, too accepting of a privileged point of view, and needy is now more likely to be used.

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Dansk (Danish)
adj. - underpriviligeret, forfordelt

Nederlands (Dutch)
kansarm(en)

Français (French)
adj. - défavorisé

Deutsch (German)
adj. - unterprivilegiert

Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - μη προνομιούχος, με λιγότερες ευκαιρίες ή προνόμια, στερημένος, κοινωνικά αδικημένος
n. pl. - οι μη προνομιούχοι

Italiano (Italian)
diseredato, diseredati

Português (Portuguese)
adj. - desprivilegiado
n. pl. - os desprivilegiados (m pl)

Русский (Russian)
пользующийся меньшими правами, неимущий

Español (Spanish)
adj. - marginado, desfavorecido, los desfavorecidos, los marginados, menesteroso, necesitado

Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - missgynnad, underprivilegierad
n. pl. - de sämre lottade

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
穷困的, 下层社会的

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 窮困的, 下層社會的

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 권리가 적은, 특권이 적은

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 恵まれない

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(صفه) البؤساء, المحرومون‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮דל-זכויות, מקופח‬

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