penury

Noun
US[pen-yoo-ree]/ˈpɛnjʊri/3 syllables
Synonyms: indigenceneedpauperismpauperization

Open English WordNet

Noun (1)

  1. a state of extreme poverty or destitution“their indigence appalled him”“a general state of need exists among the homeless”Synonyms: indigenceneedpauperismpauperizationType of poverty, poornessKinds beggary, mendicancy
Word of the day · Nov 9About this word
inexorableadjective

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Webster's Dictionary (1913)

Pen′u·ry noun

Origin: L. penuria; cf. Gr. … hunger, … poverty, need, … one who works for his daily bread, a poor man, … to work for one's daily bread, to be poor: cf. F. pénurie.

1. Absence of resources; want; privation; indigence; extreme poverty; destitution. “A penury of military forces.” Francis, Baron Verulam Bacon

They were exposed to hardship and penury.— Thomas Sprat
It arises in neither from penury of thought.— Walter S. Landor

2. Penuriousness; miserliness. obsolete Taylor, Jeremy

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54

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