poor

[ poor ]
/ pʊər /

adjective, poor·er, poor·est.

noun

(used with a plural verb) poor persons collectively (usually preceded by the): sympathy for the poor.

Idioms for poor

    poor as a church mouse, extremely poor.
    poor as Job's turkey, extremely poor; impoverished.

Origin of poor

1150–1200; Middle English pov(e)re < Old French povre < Latin pauper. See pauper

SYNONYMS FOR poor

1 needy, indigent, necessitous, straitened, destitute, penniless, poverty-stricken. Poor, impecunious, impoverished, penniless refer to those lacking money. Poor is the simple term for the condition of lacking means to obtain the comforts of life: a very poor family. Impecunious often suggests that the poverty is a consequence of unwise habits: an impecunious actor. Impoverished often implies a former state of greater plenty, from which one has been reduced: the impoverished aristocracy. Penniless may mean destitute, or it may apply simply to a temporary condition of being without funds: The widow was left penniless with three small children.
5 meager.
6 unsatisfactory, shabby.
7 sterile, barren, unfruitful, unproductive.
8 thin, skinny, meager, gaunt.
14 miserable, unhappy, pitiable.

ANTONYMS FOR poor

1, 5, 7 rich.
1, 3, 4 wealthy.

pronunciation note for poor

In the North and North Midland U.S., the vowel of poor is most often [oo] /ʊ/. Poor and sure thus contrast with pour and shore: [poor] /pʊər/, [shoor] /ʃʊər/ versus [pawr] /pɔr/, [shawr] /ʃɔr/ or [pohr] /poʊr/, [shohr] /ʃoʊr/. In the South Midland and South, the vowel of poor is generally [aw] /ɔ/ or [oh] /oʊ/ (often with the final (r) dropped), which means that in these areas, poor and pour are homophones, as are sure and shore. Both types of pronunciation exist in the British Isles.

OTHER WORDS FROM poor

poor·ness, noun non·poor, noun qua·si-poor, adjective qua·si-poor·ly, adverb

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH poor

paw poor pore

Example sentences from the Web for poor

British Dictionary definitions for poor

poor
/ (pʊə, pɔː) /

adjective

Derived forms of poor

poorness, noun

Word Origin for poor

C13: from Old French povre, from Latin pauper; see pauper, poverty