beggary

noun

beg·​gary ˈbe-gə-rē 

1

: poverty, penury

2

: the class of beggars

3

: the practice of begging

Synonyms

• destituteness
• destitution
• impecuniosity
• impecuniousness
• impoverishment
• indigence
• necessity
• need
• neediness
• pauperism
• penuriousness
• penury
• poorness
• poverty
• want

Examples of beggary in a Sentence

too many people are homeless and living in shameful beggary in this country

Recent Examples on the Web

Hence his need to construct an elaborate scheme of beggary that seems to have involved the bills being paid initially by the Cabinet office, then by the Conservative Party, then by a private donor, and finally, and only after the whole affair became a political embarrassment, by Johnson himself. —Fintan O’Toole, The New York Review of Books, 13 May 2021

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

beggary

noun

beg·​gary ˈbeg-(ə-)rē 

: extreme poverty