poor

poor: [[t]pʊ͟ə(r), pɔ͟ː(r)[/t]]
♦♦

poorer, poorest

1) ADJ-GRADED Someone who is poor has very little money and few possessions.

The reason our schools cannot afford better teachers is because people here are poor...

He was one of thirteen children from a poor family.

Ant:

rich

N-PLURAL: the N

The poor are people who are poor. Even the poor have their pride.

2) ADJ-GRADED The people in a poor country or area have very little money and few possessions.

Many countries in the Third World are as poor as they have ever been.

...a settlement house for children in a poor neighborhood.

Syn:

impoverished

Ant:

rich

3) ADJ: ADJ n You use poor to express your sympathy for someone.

I feel sorry for that poor child...

Poor chap - he was killed in that air crash when a lot of our athletes were coming back from Paris...

Poor Gordon!

4) ADJ-GRADED If you describe something as poor, you mean that it is of a low quality or standard or that it is in bad condition.

The flat was in a poor state of repair...

The gap between the best and poorest childcare provision in the European Community has widened...

The wine was poor.

Syn:

bad

Derived words:

poorly ADV-GRADED ADV -ed, ADV after v
Some are living in poorly built dormitories, even in tents...

They were dressed and fed poorly.

5) ADJ-GRADED If you describe an amount, rate, or number as poor, you mean that it is less than expected or less than is considered reasonable.

...poor wages and working conditions.

Syn:

bad

Derived words:

poorly ADV-GRADED ADV -ed, ADV after v
During the first week, the evening meetings were poorly attended...

For one of the top ten releases in rock history, the record sold poorly.

6) ADJ-GRADED: usu ADJ n, also v-link ADJ at -ing/n You use poor to describe someone who is not very skilful in a particular activity.

He was a poor actor...

Hospitals are poor at collecting information.

Derived words:

poorly ADV-GRADED ADV after v
That is the fact of Hungarian football - they can play very well or very poorly.

7) ADJ-GRADED: v-link ADJ in n If something is poor in a particular quality or substance, it contains very little of the quality or substance.

Fats and sugar are very rich in energy but poor in vitamins, minerals and dietary fibre.

...soil that is poor in zinc.

Syn:

low in

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Synonyms:

Indigent, needy, necessitous, pinched, straitened, The indigent, the needy / Miserable, wretched, unfortunate, luckless, ill-fated, ill-starred, unlucky, unhappy, pitiable / Meagre, insufficient, inadequate, scant, small / Faulty, unsatisfactory / Thin, scanty / Weak, feeble, flimsy / Penniless, moneyless, impecunious, destitute, distressed, poverty-stricken, seedy, reduced, short of money, out of money, without a penny, out of pocket, out of cash, out at the elbows, out at the heels, in need, in want, hard up, in distress, living from hand to mouth, not worth a farthing, not worth a sou, not rich, badly off, poorly off, Paupers / Emaciated, lean, thin, meagre, lank, gaunt, skinny, shrunk, fallen away / Barren, sterile, unfruitful, unfertile, unproductive, fruitless, unprolific / Trifling, trivial, slight, small, slender, flimsy, insufficient, inadequate, worthless, unimportant, of little use or worth, valueless, paltry / Unsound, infirm, feeble, delicate, weak, frail / Shabby, seedy, worthless, valueless, inferior, not good / Contemptible, despicable, paltry, mean, sorry, beggarly, pitiful, shabby, bad, low, inferior / Feeble, languid, weak, bald, tame, jejune, vapid, cold, frigid, dull, prosing, prosy, prosaic, spiritless, barren, mean, meagre, dry

Look at other dictionaries:

poor — W1S1 [po: US pur] adj comparative poorer superlative poorest ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ 1¦(no money)¦ 2¦(not good)¦ 3¦(sympathy)¦ 4¦(not good at something)¦ 5¦(health)¦ 6 poor in something 7 a poor second/third etc … Dictionary of contemporary English
Poor — Poor, a. [Compar. {Poorer} (?; 254); superl. {Poorest}.] [OE. poure or povre, OF. povre, F. pauvre, L. pauper; the first syllable of which is probably akin to paucus few (see {Paucity}, {Few}), and the second to parare to prepare, procure. See… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
poor — [ pur ] adjective *** ▸ 1 lacking money ▸ 2 of low quality ▸ 3 not good enough ▸ 4 not skillful ▸ 5 lacking something important ▸ 6 less than expected ▸ 7 feeling sorry for someone ▸ + PHRASES 1. ) having little money and few possessions: a poor… … Usage of the words and phrases in modern English
poor — [poor] adj. [ME pore < OFr povre < L pauper, poor < IE base * pōu , small > FEW, FOAL] 1. a) lacking material possessions; having little or no means to support oneself; needy; impoverished b) indicating or characterized by poverty 2.… … English World dictionary
Poor — is an adjective related to a state of poverty, low quality or pity.People with the surname Poor: * Charles Henry Poor, a US Navy officer * Charles Lane Poor, an astronomer * Edward Erie Poor, a vice president of the National Park Bank * Enoch… … Wikipedia
poor — UK US /pɔːr/ US /pʊr/ adjective ► having little money and/or few possessions: »It s offering to pay off 10 percent of the poor countries debt. »He came from a poor immigrant family. ► not good or operating well, or of a low quality or standard:… … Financial and business terms
poor — ► ADJECTIVE 1) lacking sufficient money to live at a comfortable or normal standard. 2) of a low or inferior standard or quality. 3) (poor in) lacking in. 4) deserving pity or sympathy. ● the poor man s Cf. ↑the poor man s … English terms dictionary
poor — adj 1 Poor, indigent, needy, destitute, penniless, impecunious, poverty stricken, necessitous are comparable when they mean having less money or fewer possessions than are required to support a full life. Poor describes a person, a people, or an… … New Dictionary of Synonyms
poor — (adj.) c.1200, from O.Fr. poure (Fr. pauvre), from L. pauper poor, perhaps a compound of paucus little and parare to get. Replaced O.E. earm. The poor boy sandwich, made of simple but filling ingredients, was invented and named in New Orleans in… … Etymology dictionary
poor — [adj1] lacking sufficient money bad off*, bankrupt, beggared, beggarly, behind eight ball*, broke*, destitute, dirt poor*, down andout*, empty handed*, flat*, flat broke*, fortuneless, hard up*, impecunious, impoverished, indigent, in need,… … New thesaurus
Poor — ist der Familienname folgender Personen: Enoch Poor (1736–1780), Schiffbauer und Händler aus Exeter, Brigadegeneral der Kontinentalarmee im Amerikanischen Unabhängigkeitskrieg. Salem Poor (* 1758), afroamerikanischer Soldat, der für seine… … Deutsch Wikipedia

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poor

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