She was unemployed and penniless.
went from being a penniless girl to owner of her own restaurant
Recent Examples on the WebBut Allie’s wealthy parents disapprove of the penniless, free-spirited Noah, and take drastic measures to sever ties between them.—Patrick Ryan, USA TODAY, 11 Mar. 2024 But in Chicago, recent busing protocols coupled with gridlock among national political leaders has made for strong dependency on local and state resources to provide essential services for newly arrived, often penniless, migrants: shelter, food and health care.—Nell Salzman, Chicago Tribune, 28 Jan. 2024 This time, inspiration came from English writer H.G. Wells, whose sci-fi novel The Invisible Man — about a penniless researcher whose experiments in invisibility unlock a sadistic side to his personality — has become one of the all-time genre greats.—Katie Rife, EW.com, 19 Oct. 2023 Traveling on stateless refugee passports, the couple arrived, penniless, in Zurich.—Robert D. McFadden, New York Times, 2 Dec. 2023 Although penniless, some have relatives in the diaspora who could be extorted.—Katharine Houreld, Washington Post, 30 Nov. 2023 Thousands have been returned to Mexican custody after failure to express credible fear, and shipped hundreds of miles away from the border, where most are stuck penniless in unfamiliar Mexican cities, left to contemplate their next moves.—Lillian Perlmutter, The New Republic, 13 Sep. 2023 For those who have made it to the U.S., some are exhausted and penniless.—CBS News, 14 May 2023 The big chunks of the easy-to-find gold that had been lolling around in rivers for millenniums were gone after the first years of the Gold Rush, and Marshall himself died penniless.—Thomas Fuller Jim Wilson, New York Times, 22 Apr. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'penniless.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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