impoverished

adjective

im·​pov·​er·​ished im-ˈpä-v(ə-)risht 

1

: reduced to poverty : poor

an impoverished family/community

2

: exhausted of richness or fertility

impoverished soils

3

of a fauna or flora : represented by few species or individuals

Synonyms

• beggared
• beggarly
• broke
• destitute
• dirt-poor
• down-and-out
• famished
• hard up
• impecunious
• indigent
• necessitous
• needful
• needy
• pauperized
• penniless
• penurious
• poor
• poverty-stricken
• skint [chiefly British]
• threadbare

Examples of impoverished in a Sentence

the widespread hope that the lottery's record-setting jackpot is won by an impoverished family

an impoverished field that over the years had been overgrazed

Recent Examples on the Web

Guatemala, a small, impoverished nation scarred by a brutal civil war, has a substantial undocumented population in the United States. —Daniele Volpe, New York Times, 21 Jan. 2025

The workshop's initial mission was to provide a trade for widows and other impoverished Palestinian women. —Lauren Frayer, NPR, 18 Jan. 2025

In 1968, Jiménez founded the Young Lords Organization at Lincoln Park, one of Chicago's most impoverished neighborhoods. —Nicole Acevedo, NBC News, 14 Jan. 2025

Israel has destroyed vast areas of the impoverished territory and displaced some 90% of its population of 2.3 million, often multiple times. —Tia Goldenberg and Melanie Lidman, Los Angeles Times, 8 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1611, in the meaning defined at sense 1