poor

CEFRA1

/pʊɚ/

adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    Having little money or not good in quality.

  2. 02

    adjective

    Extra detail

    Of low quality.

Examples

  • The rich have trouble as well as the poor.

  • They were too poor to buy shoes for the kids.

At a glance

Sits at A1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Also pronounced

  • /ˈpʊwə(r)/
  • /po(r)/

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

  1. Worthy of pity.

  2. With no or few possessions or money, particularly in relation to contemporaries who do have them.

  3. Deficient in a specified way.

More examples

In context

  • Your poor memory is due to poor listening habits.

  • We were so poor that we couldn't afford shoes.

  • Oh, you poor thing, you're drenched!

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The blank family could not afford to buy enough food for the whole week.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

Inherited from Middle English povre, povere, from Old French (and Anglo-Norman) povre, poure, from Latin pauper, from Old Latin *pavo-pars (literally “getting little”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂w- (“few, small”). Doublet of pauper. displaced native wantsome, Middle English unlede (“poor”) (from Old English unlǣde), Middle English unweli, unwely (“poor, unwealthy”) (from Old English un- + weliġ (“well-to-do, prosperous, rich”)). and almost fully arm