Subscriber login


Forgot your password?

Library card login

Other

poverty

Syllabification: (pov·er·ty)
Pronunciation: /ˈpävərtē/

Translate poverty | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of poverty

noun

  • the state of being extremely poor:thousands of families are living in abject poverty
  • the state of being inferior in quality or insufficient in amount:the poverty of her imagination
  • the renunciation of the right to individual ownership of property as part of a religious vow.

Origin:

Middle English: from Old French poverte, from Latin paupertas, from pauper 'poor'

poverty in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of poverty in the British & World English dictionary

Nearby words

  |  Cite

Word of the day

merrythought

/ /
noun
the wishbone of a bird …