Synonyms for poverty
Most common
All synonyms
Noun
1. Destitution
destitution, penury, indigence, impoverishment, pauperism, misery, privation, suffering, distress, neediness, want, lack, necessity, need, dearth, paucity, poorness, beggary, pennilessness rare, mendicancy rare, scantiness rare, brokeness rare
Other
straitened circumstances, impecuniosity rare, impecuniousness rare
Definitions
- n. 1
The quality or state of being poor; lack of money
Related words
- Word family
- poverty-ridden poverty-stricken povo
- Phrases
- poverty line
- Is a kind of
- lack necessity need want
Forms
- Plural
- poverties → destitutions, penuries, indigences, impoverishments…
Example sentences
- destitution We fight to pull ourselves out of destitution.
- impoverishment Monolingualism means impoverishment.
- penury Can Tebboune lead Algeria from penury to prosperity?
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| poverty | rising | |
| destitution | steady | |
| impoverishment | steady | |
| penury | steady | |
| indigence | steady |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 4 letters
- want1, need1, lack1
- 6 letters
- misery3, dearth1, penury3
- 7 letters
- paucity3, beggary
- 8 letters
- distress2, poorness
- 9 letters
- suffering3, necessity4, privation3, neediness, indigence, pauperism, brokeness
- 10 letters
- scantiness3, mendicancy
- 11 letters
- destitution4
- 13 letters
- pennilessness, impecuniosity
- 14 letters
- impoverishment4
- 15 letters
- impecuniousness
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (misery3 = 3 syllables).