INDIGENCE Synonyms: 37 Similar and Opposite Words

Q: How is the word 'indigence' distinct from other similar nouns?

Some common synonyms of indigence are destitution , penury , poverty , and want . While all these words mean "the state of one with insufficient resources," indigence implies seriously straitened circumstances. // the indigence of her years as a graduate student

Q: When would 'penury' be a good substitute for 'indigence'?

The words penury and indigence are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, penury suggests a cramping or oppressive lack of money. // a catastrophic illness that condemned them to years of penury

Q: In what contexts can 'poverty' take the place of 'indigence'?

In some situations, the words poverty and indigence are roughly equivalent. However, poverty may cover a range from extreme want of necessities to an absence of material comforts. // the extreme poverty of the slum dwellers

Q: How are the words 'want' and 'destitution' related as synonyms of 'indigence'?

Both want and destitution imply extreme poverty that threatens life itself through starvation or exposure. // lived in a perpetual state of want // the widespread destitution in countries beset by famine

indigence

noun

ˈin-di-jən(t)s

Definition of indigence next

as in poverty

the state of lacking sufficient money or material possessions there are various state and federal programs to help relieve indigence

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How is the word indigence distinct from other similar nouns?

Some common synonyms of indigence are destitution, penury, poverty, and want. While all these words mean "the state of one with insufficient resources," indigence implies seriously straitened circumstances.

the indigence of her years as a graduate student

When would penury be a good substitute for indigence?

The words penury and indigence are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, penury suggests a cramping or oppressive lack of money.

a catastrophic illness that condemned them to years of penury

In what contexts can poverty take the place of indigence?

In some situations, the words poverty and indigence are roughly equivalent. However, poverty may cover a range from extreme want of necessities to an absence of material comforts.

the extreme poverty of the slum dwellers

How are the words want and destitution related as synonyms of indigence?

Both want and destitution imply extreme poverty that threatens life itself through starvation or exposure.

lived in a perpetual state of want

the widespread destitution in countries beset by famine

Examples Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of indigence The ceaseless movement of staff around the world compounds this nebulous sensation of perpetual indigence. —

Nick Foulkes, theweek, 7 Nov. 2024 In its first three years, Bolsa Família cut extreme poverty by 15 percent, and by 2014, the percentage of Brazilians living in indigence had been slashed to less than three percent—a level the World Bank considers equivalent to eradication. —

Jonathan Tepperman, Foreign Affairs, 14 Dec. 2015 The Misses Arkell had been prepared, as the Professor put it, to minister to his spiritual indigence; but while there was much to be done in the way of instruction, they were reluctantly obliged to admit that exhortation and admonition were superfluous. —

Edith Wharton, The Atlantic, 9 Nov. 2020 Splendor and indigence are equally familiar to him; prudence and shame are equally alien. —

Judith Thurman, The New Yorker, 20 June 2022 Black and Hispanic Americans escaped indigence in record numbers. —

Washington Post, 18 Mar. 2022 His children, three former child prodigies, are to blame for his financial indigence. —

CNN, 13 Dec. 2021 William Booth’s famous poverty maps, which the social reformer used to catalogue affluence and indigence in late Victorian London, don’t extend this far south. —

Washington Post, 12 Feb. 2021 Under Harris County’s rigid and misguided risk-assessment system, indicators of indigence received the same point values as a history of criminal violations or prior failures to appear in court. —

Gilbert Garcia, ExpressNews.com, 12 Feb. 2020