Definition of penniless adjective from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

penniless

adjective

/ˈpeniləs/

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having no money; very poor synonym destitute
- a penniless student
Synonyms poor
poordisadvantaged ▪ needy ▪ impoverished ▪ deprived ▪ penniless ▪ hard upThese words all describe somebody who has very little or no money and therefore cannot satisfy their basic needs.
poor having very little money; not having enough money for basic needs:
They were too poor to buy shoes for the kids.
disadvantaged having less money and fewer opportunities than most people in society:
socially disadvantaged sections of the community
needy poor:
It’s a charity that provides help for needy children.
impoverished (in the media) poor:
Thousands of impoverished peasants are desperate to move to the cities.
deprived [usually before noun] without enough food, education, and all the things that are necessary for people to live a happy and comfortable life
poor, needy, impoverished or deprived?Poor is the most general of these words and can be used to describe yourself, another individual person, people as a group, or a country or an area. Needy is mostly used to describe people considered as a group: it is not used to talk about yourself or individual people: poor/needy children/families • They were too needy to buy shoes for the kids. Impoverished is used, especially in journalism, to talk about poor countries and the people who live there. To talk about poor areas in rich countries, use deprived.
penniless (literary) having no money; very poor:
He died penniless in Paris.
hard up (informal) having very little money, especially for a short period of time:
I was always hard up as a student.
Patterns
- poor/disadvantaged/needy/impoverished/deprived/penniless/hard-up people/families
- poor/disadvantaged/needy/impoverished/deprived areas
- poor/disadvantaged/impoverished countries
- a(n) poor/disadvantaged/impoverished/deprived background
Extra Examples
- He died penniless in Paris.
- Laura found herself virtually penniless.
- The legal dispute left them penniless.
- She arrived in 1978 as a virtually penniless refugee.
Topics Social issuesc1
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
verbs
- be
- die
- find yourself
- …
adverb
- totally
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See penniless in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary

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Nearby words

hopefully

adverb

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OPAL spoken words

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