| Library / English Dictionary |
PENURY
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A state of extreme poverty or destitution
Example:
a general state of need exists among the homeless
Synonyms:
indigence; need; pauperism; pauperization; penury
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Hypernyms ("penury" is a kind of...):
impoverishment; poorness; poverty (the state of having little or no money and few or no material possessions)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "penury"):
beggary; mendicancy; mendicity (the state of being a beggar or mendicant)
Derivation:
penurious (not having enough money to pay for necessities)
