poverty-stricken
[adjective]
Synonyms: penniless, broke (informal), destitute, down and out, flat broke (informal), impecunious, impoverished, indigent, poor

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Related Idioms: *piss poor, *without a pot to piss in

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English Thesaurus: poor, hard up/broke, developing, deprived, disadvantaged, ...

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

ˈpoverty-ˌstricken adjective
extremely poor:
poverty-stricken families

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

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 ▲