- 1[uncountable] the state of being poor conditions of abject/extreme poverty to alleviate/relieve poverty Many elderly people live in poverty. Wordfinderpoorbeg, benefit, charity, homeless, hostel, the poor, poverty, shanty town, sweatshop, unemploymentinternational Oxford Collocations Dictionary adjectiveabject, absolute, extreme, … verb + povertyalleviate, combat, fight, … poverty + nountrap, rate, reduction, … prepositionin poverty , poverty among, poverty of, … phrasesabove/below/under the poverty level, above/below/under the poverty line, at the poverty level, … See full entry See related entries: Economy, Poverty and famine
- 2[uncountable, singular] a lack of something; poor quality There is a poverty of colour in her work. Word OriginMiddle English: from Old French poverte, from Latin paupertas, from pauper ‘poor’.Extra examples His work displays a poverty of imagination. Most of the population lives in grinding poverty. a plan to eradicate urban poverty families living below the poverty line/level his struggle to escape the grinding poverty of his childhood the true extent of poverty among the unemployed Land reform would help to alleviate rural poverty. Many of the most vulnerable people in our society are facing a future of grinding poverty. The poorest families remained caught in the poverty trap. There are millions living on incomes below the poverty line. Thousands of families are living in abject/dire poverty in the shanty towns.
poverty
nounBrE BrE//ˈpɒvəti//; NAmE NAmE//ˈpɑːvərti//
Economy, Poverty and famineCheck pronunciation: poverty
