Synonyms for poor

modified

1. Lacking worldly goods

   indigent, impoverished, impecunious, destitute, needy, necessitous, penniless, poverty-stricken, underprivileged, disadvantaged, deprived, starved, starving, straitened, penurious, pinched, distressed, in reduced circumstances, beggared, famine-stricken, underdeveloped, empty-handed, insolvent, beggarly, ill-provided, ill-furnished, in want, in penury, suffering privation, in need, feeling the pinch, unable to make ends meet, poor as a church mouse*, broke*, hard up*, strapped for money*, down and out*, out at the elbows*; see also insolvent, ruined 4, wanting 1.

   Antonyms wealthy*, well-to-do, affluent.

2. Lacking excellences

   pitiful, paltry, contemptible, miserable, pitiable, dwarfed, insignificant, diminutive, ordinary, common, mediocre, trashy, shoddy, worthless, sorry, base, mean, coarse, vulgar, inferior, imperfect, smaller, lesser, below par, subnormal, under average, second-rate, reduced, defective, deficient, lower, subordinate, minor, secondary, humble, second-hand, pedestrian, beggarly, homely, homespun, fourth-rate, tawdry, petty, unimportant, bad, cheap, flimsy, threadbare, badly made, less than good, unwholesome, lacking in quality, dowdy, undergrade, second-class, shabby, shoddy, valueless, easy, gaudy, mass-produced, gimcrack, squalid, catchpenny, trivial, sleazy, trifling, unsuccessful, second-best, tasteless, insipid, barbarous, vile, disgusting, despicable, rustic, crude, outlandish, odd, rock-bottom, garish, flashy, showy, inelegant, loud, unsightly, inartistic, affected, ramshackle, pretentious, tumble-down, glaring, artificial, flaunting, newfangled, out-of-date, old-fashioned, crummy*, junky*, two-bit*, schlock*, third-rate*, kitschy*, raunchy*, corny*, cheesy*; see also faulty, inadequate 1, unsatisfactory.

3. Inadequate

   meager, scanty, sparse; see inadequate 1, scanty, wanting 1.

4. Lacking vigor or health

   feeble, puny, infirm, indisposed; see sick, weak 1.

5. Lacking fertility

   infertile, unproductive, barren; see sterile 1, 2, worthless 1.

6. Worthy of pity

   unfortunate, pitiable, hapless, wretched; see unfortunate 2.

poor is the simple, direct term for one who lacks the resources for reasonably comfortable living; impoverished) is applied to one who having once had plenty is now reduced to poverty an impoverished aristocrat; destitute implies such great poverty that even the means for subsistence, such as food and shelter, are lacking left destitute by the war; impecunious applies to one who habitually lacks money and often suggests that this results from personal practices an impecunious gambler; indigent implies such relative poverty as results in a lack of comforts or luxuries and the endurance of hardships books for indigent children

noun