Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
poverty (noun)1.
a) the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions
b) renunciation as a member of a religious order of the right as an individual to own property
2.
- scarcity dearth
3.
a) debility due to malnutrition
b) lack of fertility
Merriam-Webster Online Thesaurus
poverty (noun)1.
the state of lacking sufficient money or material possessions
SYNONIMS:
beggary, destituteness, destitution, impecuniosity, impecuniousness, impoverishment, indigence, necessity, need, neediness, pauperism, penuriousness, penury, poorness, wantRELATED WORDS:
gutter, misery, woe, wretchedness; exigency; emergency, rainy day; austerity, deprivation, privation; bankruptcy, insolvency; belt-tightening, pinching, straiteningNEAR ANTONYMS:
luxury, prosperity2.
a falling short of an essential or desirable amount or number
SYNONIMS:
crunch, dearth, deficit, drought ( drouth), failure, famine, inadequacy, inadequateness, insufficiency, lack, lacuna, paucity, pinch, poverty, scantiness, scarceness, scarcity, shortage, undersupply, wantRELATED WORDS:
absence, omission; meagerness, poorness, skimpiness; necessity, need, privationNEAR ANTONYMS:
bountifulness, copiousness; excess, overabundance, oversupply, surfeit, surplus