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poor - What does it mean?

Definition of 'poor'

English

Adjective

(er)
  • With little or no possessions or money.
  • :
  • Of low quality.
  • :
  • *|chapter=10
  • |title= The Mirror and the Lamp |passage=He looked round the poor room, at the distempered walls, and the bad engravings in meretricious frames, the crinkly paper and wax flowers on the chiffonier; and he thought of a room like Father Bryan's, with panelling, with cut glass, with tulips in silver pots, such a room as he had hoped to have for his own.}}
  • To be pitied.
  • :
  • *
  • *:Thanks to that penny he had just spent so recklessly [on a newspaper] he would pass a happy hour, taken, for once, out of his anxious, despondent, miserable self. It irritated him shrewdly to know that these moments of respite from carking care would not be shared with his poor wife, with careworn, troubled Ellen.
  • *{{quote-book|year=1963|author=(Margery Allingham)|title=(The China Governess)
  • |chapter=15 citation |passage=Mr. Campion sighed. β€˜Poor man,’ he said. β€˜He sees his great sacrifices rejected by the gods, and so, no doubt, all the Misses Eumenides let loose again to plague him.’}}
  • Deficient in a specified way.
  • :
  • Inadequate, insufficient.
  • :
  • *(w) (1600-1666)
  • *:That I have wronged no man will be a poor plea or apology at the last day.
  • Free from self-assertion; not proud or arrogant; meek.
  • *(Bible), (w) v.3
  • *:Blessed are the poor in spirit.
  • Synonyms

    * (little or no possessions) impoverished, wealthless, * (of low quality) inferior * (to be pitied) pitiable, * See also * See also

    Antonyms

    * (having little or no possessions) rich * (of low quality) good * (deficient in a specified way) rich * (inadequate) adequate

    Derived terms

    * poor man's * dirt poor * house poor * land poor (rel-mid3) * piss-poor * poor as a church mouse * poor box * poorhouse (rel-mid3) * poor power * poor relation (rel-bottom)

    Noun

    (en-plural noun)
  • (with "the") Those who have little or no possessions or money, taken as a group.
  • The poor are always with us.

    Statistics

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    Anagrams

    * 1000 English basic words ----

    Similar to 'poor'

    power, peer, pour, pear, pair, puer, per, purr, par, payer, parr, pier, pwr, pur, payor, phr, pooer, pheer