as in impoverished
lacking money or material possessions
went from being a penniless girl to owner of her own restaurant
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Recent Examples of penniless
Her ex-husband wiped out several bank accounts and disappeared, leaving her and their children practically penniless.
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Essence, 22 Sep. 2025
Anderson, looking every inch a Pre-Raphaelite muse, plays the penniless, unmarried, and — worst of all — conspicuous socialite Lily Bart.
—Elle Carroll, Vulture, 11 Aug. 2025
The book, based entirely on a true story according to its writer, detailed the pair’s penniless trek camping along the British coast.
—Lily Ford, HollywoodReporter, 7 July 2025
Arnaz’s maternal grandfather, Alberto de Acha, was an executive at rum producer Bacardi & Co.
The man born Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha III in Santiago de Cuba on March 2, 1917, arrived penniless in Miami before his 17th birthday.
—Howard Cohen, Miami Herald, 19 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for penniless
Recent Examples of Synonyms for penniless
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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Flooding may occur in poor drainage and urban areas.—
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In recent games, KU’s communication has been pretty poor on defense and that’s led to players taking (and too often missing) wide-open 3-pointers.—
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.—
Cite this Entry
“Penniless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/penniless. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.
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