1
as in impoverished
lacking money or material possessions
every year, we make up a basket of food at Thanksgiving for a poor family in the neighborhood
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2
as in desolate
producing inferior or only a small amount of vegetation
land that is too poor for farming
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3
as in scarce
less plentiful than what is normal, necessary, or desirable
a poor crop because of the drought this year
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4
as in unacceptable
falling short of a standard
a pretty poor musician, even for a garage band
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5
as in terrible
of low quality
the poor workmanship of the goods from that store
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6
as in pitiful
deserving of one's pity
aw, the poor kitten hurt its paw
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of poor
Narrated by Colm Feore and James Hyndman in the English and French versions of the movie, respectively, the 17-minute stop-motion short follows a poor young boy who discovers a girl whose tears, evoked by a sad home life, turn into pristine pearls.
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Destiny Jackson, Deadline, 9 Jan. 2026
Late last year, the leader of Tesla and the world’s richest person, Elon Musk, secured a $1 trillion pay package at his EV company, spurring criticism of the growing wealth divide between the world’s wealthiest and poorest workers.
—Emma Burleigh, Fortune, 9 Jan. 2026
Tua Tagovailoa, who was benched for the final three games of the season because of poor play, still has a lot of money left on his contract.
—Ryan Canfield, FOXNews.com, 9 Jan. 2026
Amazon , as all will know, has been a poor relative performer to the S & P 500 Index for several years.
—Carter Braxton Worth, CNBC, 9 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for poor
Recent Examples of Synonyms for poor
Adjective
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The United States must step away from war and send food to Venezuela’s impoverished people.—
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Leaning into the superstition that someone with albinism can bring wealth to those in need, Panay’s story follows a young boy with albinism (Boubacar Dembèlè), whose voice is believed to hold special powers that can protect impoverished miners risking their lives for gold.—
Adjective
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Sátántangó’s desolate landscapes, dominated by mud, wind, and overcast skies, summoned a vision of earthly purgatory unrivaled in almost all of cinema.—
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Thanksgiving is desolate with freezing rain.—
Adjective
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The capacity for attention on books is so scarce, more so every year.—
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And the buildout is putting stress on local water resources that communities worry will cause shortages, with 160 new facilities located in areas with scarce supply, according to Bloomberg.—
Adjective
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To make large profits from parking fees to make up for his terrible management of tax dollars and his expensive real estate errors should be unacceptable.—
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In just 24 hours, the president unveiled three massive state interventions into different markets that might’ve once looked—and sounded—like unacceptable levels of socialist dirigisme for a Republican to champion.—
Adjective
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The groundbreaking research penetrated the last moments of the young nobleman, who suffered a terrible 26 blows.—
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History is full of cases where great bands make terrible records, yet history stands speechless at what the Clash accomplished here.—
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Here in his pitiful, mini Gaza where reasoning and logic struggle futilely.—
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Instead Tripp comes across as simultaneously pitiful and predatory, a fine line that Paulson was able to walk straight to the year-round Christmas store.—
Adjective
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All of that stuff is very much in play in what’s recognizably on-brand Steppenwolf acting, typified by go-for-broke intensity, naked in more ways than one, from Coon and Smallwood, especially.—
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Dennis Hamlin took out multiple mortgages, maxed out several credit cards and nearly went broke, the Associated Press reported, all in pursuit of the dream to get his son into NASCAR.—
Adjective
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In the 19th century, guano miners razed the place, removing most of the topsoil and leaving behind barren rock.—
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The next two teams on this list find themselves in eerily similar situations, from barren rosters to enviable cap space to hope at the quarterback position.—
Cite this Entry
“Poor.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/poor. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.
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