penury suggests a cramping or oppressive lack of money.
a catastrophic illness that condemned them to years of penury
want and destitution imply extreme poverty that threatens life itself through starvation or exposure.
lived in a perpetual state of want
the widespread destitution in countries beset by famine
Example Sentences
He was born in poverty. There is a poverty of information about the disease.
Recent Examples on the WebIn Prince George's County, Maryland, where there's a high concentration of poverty, at least 8 percent of the public school district's teacher slots are vacant, more than twice as many as last year, according to the teachers union. Gabe Cohen, CNN, 31 Aug. 2022 In response to a public callout from MuckRock, one parent in Mount Pleasant, Monica Rosen, said that paying for her daughter’s preschool pushed her family to the brink of poverty. Luca Powell And Derek Kravitz, Detroit Free Press, 28 Aug. 2022 The levels of poverty here is what makes the area such a wellspring for ISIS and Al Qaeda recruits. Kevin Maurer, Rolling Stone, 28 Aug. 2022 The rise of China as the world’s factory lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty worldwide and deluged consumers with cheap goods. Andrew Van Dam, Washington Post, 26 Aug. 2022 Many of these are designating significant dollars to census tracts with high rates of poverty. Talis Shelbourne, Journal Sentinel, 23 Aug. 2022 The Augustinian friars of Medieval Britain pledged themselves to a life of poverty, but their friaries offered a pretty high standard of communal living. Brian Handwerk, Smithsonian Magazine, 18 Aug. 2022 Oftentimes, women, and Black women in particular, are cast off as welfare queens, and the holistic view of who and what their needs are, and their desire to come up out of poverty, are not shared in the best manner possible. Rayna Reid Rayford, Essence, 18 Aug. 2022 Investing in a girl's education through high school is the best way to lift her and her future children out of poverty. Sarah Ferguson, Forbes, 18 Aug. 2022 See More
Word History
Etymology
Middle English poverte, from Anglo-French poverté, from Latin paupertat-, paupertas, from pauper poor — more at poor