poor
[adjective]
Synonyms:
- impoverished, broke (informal), destitute, down and out, hard up (informal), impecunious, indigent, needy, on the breadline, penniless, penurious, poverty-stricken, short, skint (Brit. slang), stony-broke (Brit. slang)
- inadequate, deficient, incomplete, insufficient, lacking, meagre, measly, scant, scanty, skimpy
- inferior, below par, low-grade, mediocre, no great shakes (informal), not much cop (Brit. slang), rotten (informal), rubbishy, second-rate, substandard, unsatisfactory
- unfortunate, hapless, ill-fated, luckless, pitiable, unlucky, wretched

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Antonyms: rich
Contrasted words: affluent, comfortable, moneyed, oofy, opulent, pecunious, prosperous, wealthy, well-fixed, well-heeled, well-off, well-to-do
Related Idioms: down to one's bottom dollar, flat broke, hard up, in need, in penury, in rags, in want, on one's beam-ends, on one's uppers, out at elbows, out of pocket, poor as a church mouse, unable to keep the wolf from the door, unable to make ends meet
Related Words: distressed, embarrassed, pinched, reduced, straitened, bankrupt, bankrupted, insolvent, hardscrabble, moneyless, penceless, penniless, unmoneyed, beggarly, down-and-out, pauperized, underprivileged

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English Thesaurus: bad, poor, not very good, disappointing, negative, ...

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

poor S1 W1 /pɔː $ pʊr/ adjective (comparative poorer, superlative poorest)
[Date: 1100-1200; Language: Old French; Origin: povre, from Latin pauper]

1. NO MONEY
a) having very little money and not many possessions Antonym : rich:
Her family were so poor they couldn’t afford to buy her new clothes.
an area where poor people lived
one of the poorest countries in the world
a poor part of Chicago (=where a lot of poor people live)
My grandparents grew up dirt poor (=very poor).
desperately/extremely poor
Many of the families are desperately poor.
b) the poor [plural] people who are poor:
It’s the government’s responsibility to help the poor.
the rural/urban/working poor
tax relief for the working poor

2. NOT GOOD not as good as it could be or should be:
The soil in this area is very poor.
poor rates of pay
He blames himself for the team’s poor performance.
of poor quality (=not made well or not made of good materials)
The jacket was of very poor quality.
poor hearing/eyesight/memory
Her hearing is poor, so speak fairly loudly.
make/do a poor job of doing something
The builders did a really poor job of fixing our roof.

3. SYMPATHY [only before noun] spoken used to show sympathy for someone because they are so unlucky, unhappy etc:
Poor kid, he’s had a rough day.
You poor thing, you’ve had a hard time of it, haven’t you?
Poor old Ted was sick for weeks.

4. NOT GOOD AT SOMETHING not good at doing something:
a poor public speaker
poor at
He’s poor at sports.

5. HEALTH someone whose health is poor is ill or weak for a long period of time:
My parents are both in rather poor health.

6. poor in something lacking something that is needed:
The country is poor in natural resources.

7. a poor second/third etc the act of finishing a race, competition etc a long way behind the person ahead of you:
McLean won easily, and Benson was a poor second.
come (in) a poor second/third etc British English:
The Socialists came a poor second with 26.5% of the vote.

8. the poor man’s somebody used to say that someone is like a very famous performer, writer etc but is not as good as they are:
He was the poor man’s Elvis Presley.

9. the poor man’s something used to say that something can be used for the same purpose as something else, and is much cheaper:
Herring is the poor man’s salmon.

10. poor relation British English someone or something that is not treated as well as other members of a group or is much less successful than they are
poor relation of
Theatre musicians tend to be the poor relations of the musical profession.
⇒ be in bad/poor taste at taste¹(6), ⇒ poorly

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

poor

extremely poor
His parents were extremely poor.
desperately poor (=so poor that it causes great suffering)
Half the population remains desperately poor.
dirt poor American English informal (=extremely poor)
We were dirt poor back then.
the rural poor (=poor people who live in the countryside)
Difficult economic conditions have driven millions of the rural poor to cities.
the urban poor (=poor people who live in towns and cities)
The condition of the urban poor could no longer be ignored.
the working poor (=poor people who have jobs, rather than unemployed people)
These tax-cut proposals are targeted at the working poor.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

poor
adjective
BAD: He gave all his money to the poors.
GOOD: He gave all his money to the poor.

Usage Note:
the poor (WITHOUT -s ) = all people that are poor: 'In a recession it is always the poor that suffer the most.'

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Common Errors ▲

bad not good:
a bad idea
His behaviour is getting worse.
poor not as good as it could be or should be:
A poor diet can lead to ill health.
his poor performance at school
not very good not good – often used instead of saying directly that something was ‘bad’, especially when you were disappointed by it:
The film wasn’t very good.
disappointing not as good as you hoped or expected:
Her exam results were disappointing.
a disappointing start to the campaign
negative bad – used when talking about the bad result or effect of something:
All the publicity had a negative impact on sales.
the negative effects of climate change
undesirable formal bad and not wanted:
The policy had some undesirable consequences.
drug abuse and other undesirable behaviour
unfavourable formal unfavourable conditions are not good for doing something:
The boat race was cancelled because of unfavourable weather.
awful/terrible/dreadful especially British English very bad:
The movie was awful.
Her house is in a terrible state.
a dreadful crime
horrible very bad, especially in a way that shocks or upsets you:
He describes prison as ‘a horrible place’.
It was a horrible exprerience.
disgusting smelling or tasting very bad:
The food was disgusting.
The fish smelled disgusting.
lousy /ˈlaʊzi/ informal very bad or disappointing:
The weather has been lousy all week.
I’m fed up with this lousy job.
ghastly /ˈɡɑːstli $ ˈɡæstli/ British English informal very bad:
I’ve had a ghastly day.
a ghastly mistake
severe severe problems, injuries, illnesses etc are very bad and serious:
The country faces severe economic problems.
severe delays
He suffered severe head injuries in a car crash.
atrocious/appalling/horrendous extremely bad in a way that is shocking:
Her behaviour has been absolutely atrocious.
The country has an appalling human rights record.
abysmal /əˈbɪzməl/ very bad and of a very low standard:
The team’s performance was abysmal.
the abysmal conditions in some prisons

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲

poor having very little money and not many possessions – used about people or places:
Many families were too poor to pay for education.
poor countries
hard up/broke (also skint British English) [not before noun] informal having very little money, especially for a short period of time. Skint is more informal than the other words:
I’m a bit hard up at the moment
We were so broke we couldn’t afford to go out to the cinema.
developing [only before noun] a developing country is poor and has very little industry:
The disease is found mainly in developing countries.
the developing world
deprived [usually before noun] much poorer than other people in a country, and not having the things that are necessary for a comfortable or happy life – used about people and areas:
The charity works with deprived children in the inner city.
one of the most deprived areas of London
disadvantaged especially written used about groups of people in society who have much less chance of being successful because they are poor:
An increase in the minimum wage would help the most disadvantaged Americans.
needy having very little money, and so needing help – used about groups of people:
More help should be given to needy families.
We offer scholarships for needy students.
destitute especially written having no money or possessions and nowhere to live – used when someone is in a very bad situation:
Her family was left destitute after her father died.
destitute refugees
impoverished formal impoverished people and places are very poor:
out-of-work miners and their impoverished families
The children come from impoverished neighbourhoods.
one of the world’s most impoverished countries
poverty-stricken written extremely poor:
poverty-stricken areas
They were left poverty-stricken.
penniless especially literary having no money:
She died penniless.
a penniless student

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲