Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- adj. Having little or no wealth and few or no possessions.
- adj. Lacking in a specified resource or quality: an area poor in timber and coal; a diet poor in calcium.
- adj. Not adequate in quality; inferior: a poor performance.
- adj. Lacking in value; insufficient: poor wages.
- adj. Lacking in quantity: poor attendance.
- adj. Lacking fertility: poor soil.
- adj. Undernourished; lean.
- adj. Humble: a poor spirit.
- adj. Eliciting or deserving pity; pitiable: couldn't rescue the poor fellow.
- n. People with little or no wealth and possessions considered as a group: The urban poor are in need of homes.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- adj. With little or no possessions or money.
- adj. Of low quality.
- adj. To be pitied.
- adj. Deficient in a specified way.
- adj. inadequate, insufficient
- n. Those who have little or no possessions or money, taken as a group.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- adj. Destitute of property; wanting in material riches or goods; needy; indigent.
- adj. So completely destitute of property as to be entitled to maintenance from the public.
- adj. Destitute of such qualities as are desirable, or might naturally be expected.
- adj. Wanting in fat, plumpness, or fleshiness; lean; emaciated; meager
- adj. Wanting in strength or vigor; feeble; dejected.
- adj. Of little value or worth; not good; inferior; shabby; mean.
- adj. Destitute of fertility; exhausted; barren; sterile; -- said of land.
- adj. Destitute of beauty, fitness, or merit.
- adj. Without prosperous conditions or good results; unfavorable; unfortunate; unconformable.
- adj. Inadequate; insufficient; insignificant.
- adj. Worthy of pity or sympathy; -- used also sometimes as a term of endearment, or as an expression of modesty, and sometimes as a word of contempt.
- adj. Free from self-assertion; not proud or arrogant; meek.
- n. A small European codfish (Gadus minutus); -- called also power cod.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Possessing little; destitute of wealth: opposed to rich: as, a poor man; a poor community.
- Lacking means to procure the comforts of life; indigent; needy; necessitous; specifically, in law, so destitute or impoverished as to be dependent upon charity, or upon the poorrates; pauper.
- Deficient in or destitute of desirable or essential qualities; lacking those qualities which render a thing valuable, desirable, suitable, or sufficient for its purpose; inferior; bad: as, poor bread; poor health; cattle in poor condition.
- In particular— Of little consequence; trifling; insignificant; paltry: as, a poor excuse.
- Mean; shabby: as, a poor outfit; poor surroundings.
- Lean; meager; emaciated: as, poor cattle.
- Lacking in fertility; barren; exhausted: as, poor land.
- Lacking in spirit or vigor; feeble; impotent.
- Destitute of merit or worth; barren; jejune: as, a poor discourse; a poor essay.
- Unfortunate; to be pitied or regretted: much used colloquially as a vague epithet indicative of sympathy or pity for one who is sick, feeble, or unhappy, or of regret for one who is dead.
- Miserable; wretched: used in contempt.
- Humble; slight; insignificant: used modestly in speaking of things pertaining to one's self.
- To pet in a pitying, compassionate way.
- n. In England, a gadoid fish, Gadus minutus.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- n. people without possessions or wealth (considered as a group)
- adj. characterized by or indicating poverty
- adj. not sufficient to meet a need
- adj. having little money or few possessions
- adj. unsatisfactory
- adj. lacking in specific resources, qualities or substances
- adj. deserving or inciting pity
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Examples
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Oh da poor kitteh…(snerk)… hez gettin a automayted baff… (mai eyes are leekin form da laughin)..poor wet kitteh.
CDC cat - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger?
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But I say also to the poor, '_In your turn have charity for the rich_;' and I say to the rich, '_In your turn respect the poor_.'
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"But there's one thing I wish she would do -- poor -- _poor_ Aunt Meda --" he glanced up at the light in the window.
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They deny both the justice and expediency of permitting any degree of ignorance or debasement to work the forfeiture of self-ownership, and pronounce slavery continued for such a cause the worst of all, inasmuch as it is the _robbery of the poor because he is poor_.
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"Oh, I am too poor, _too poor_," said she, and burst into tears.
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The hired servant is called "poor and needy," and the reason assigned by God why he should be paid as soon as he had finished his work is, "For _he is poor_, and setteth his heart upon it."
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And poor mamma '-- the faint voice, forgetful of its weakness, grows stronger for a moment, and dwells on that name with measureless compassion --' poor, poor, _poor_ mamma!
Continental Monthly , Vol. 5, No. 6, June, 1864 Devoted to Literature and National Policy
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The poor man sees the friend, the charity, the answer that is able and ready to help him in need; is it any wonder that he overlooks the source of this power, this plenty, that he forgets the robbery in the robber who is good to the poor?
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So she left poor Dick; I say _poor_ Dick, because he had not found any one else.
News from Nowhere, or, an Epoch of Rest : being some chapters from a utopian romance
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Tom Singleton and Fred, he became deeply interested in the condition of the poor, and had a special weakness for _poor old women, _ which he exhibited by searching up, and doing good to, every poor old woman in the parish.
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