poor
pronunciation
How to pronounce poor in British English:
UK [pɔː(r) , pʊə(r)]
How to pronounce poor in American English:
US [pʊr , pɔːr]
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- Adjective:
- moderate to inferior in quality
- deserving or inciting pity
- having little money or few possessions
- characterized by or indicating lack of money
- low in degree
- badly supplied with desirable qualities or substances
- not sufficient to meet a need
- unsatisfactory
- yielding little by great labor
Word Origin
- poor
- poor: [13] Poor came via Old French povre from Latin pauper ‘poor’. This is thought originally to have been a compound meaning literally ‘getting little’, formed from paucus ‘little’ (a distant relative of English few) and parāre ‘get, prepare’ (source of English prepare). Its derivative paupertās has given English poverty [12], and pauper itself was acquired by English in the 16th century as a noun meaning ‘poor person’.=> few, pauper, poverty
- poor (adj.)
- c. 1200, "lacking money or resources, destitute; needy, indigent; small, scanty," from Old French povre "poor, wretched, dispossessed; inadequate; weak, thin" (Modern French pauvre), from Latin pauper "poor, not wealthy," from pre-Latin *pau-paros "producing little; getting little," a compound from the roots of paucus "little" (see paucity) and parare "to produce, bring forth" (see pare). Replaced Old English earm. Figuratively from early 14c. Meaning "of inferior quality" is from c. 1300. Of inhabited places from c. 1300; of soil, etc., from late 14c. The poor boy sandwich, made of simple but filling ingredients, was invented and named in New Orleans in 1921. To poor mouth "deny one's advantages" is from 1965 (to make a poor mouth "whine" is Scottish dialect from 1822). Slang poor man's ________ "the cheaper alternative to _______," is from 1854.
- poor (n.)
- "poor persons collectively," mid-12c., from poor (adj.). The Latin adjective pauper "poor" also was used in a noun sense "a poor man."
Synonym
Antonym
Example
- 1. People in poor countries need jobs .
- 2. Poor countries are not as lucky .
- 3. Poor robert was very hungry .
- 4. Only the very poor drank water .
- 5. That is especially worrying for the poor .