pooradjective
uk/pɔːr/us/pʊr/poor adjective (NO MONEY)
A1 having little money and/or few possessions:
Most of the world's poorest countries are in Africa.
He came from a poor immigrant family.
Opposite
rich
be poor in sth
B2 to have very little of a particular substance or quality:
Unfortunately, Iceland is poor in natural resources.
More examples
- The demonstrators seemed to be from a complete cross-section of society - male and female, old and young, rich and poor.
- Because of debt repayments, the divide between rich and poor countries is continuing to grow.
- Fair trade, say Oxfam, is about giving poor people power.
- When he started he was just a poor boy from the slums - now he's a multimillionaire.
- We certainly don't lead a life of luxury but we're not poor either.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Scarce, inadequate and not enough
- be at a premium idiom
- be thin on the ground idiom
- dearth
- deficiency
- deficient
- gold dust
- lacking
- late
- long on sth and short on sth idiom
- lousy
- meagre
- measly
- nearly
- rare
- scarcity
- shortage
- shortfall
- sparse
- supply
- thin
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poor adjective (BAD)
B2 not good; being of a very low quality, quantity, or standard:
a poor harvest
Last year's exam results were fairly poor.
I was always very poor at maths at school.
Dad had been in poor health for several years.
At last month's meeting, attendance was poor.
More examples
- This novel is available in large print for readers with poor eyesight.
- Teachers shouldn't have to take all the blame for poor exam results.
- The land is so poor here that it cannot support any crops.
- The match was abandoned at half-time because of the poor weather conditions.
- He was fired from his $165 000 job for poor performance.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Not of good quality
- a miserable, poor, etc. excuse for sth idiom
- apology
- atrocious
- awful
- badly
- be an apology for sth idiom
- clunky
- come/be a poor second, third, etc. idiom
- downmarket
- downscale
- inadequacy
- inadequate
- motley
- mouldy
- not set the world on fire idiom
- tacky
- unattractive
- unimpressed
- weak sauce
- worst
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poor adjective (DESERVING SYMPATHY)
A2 [ before noun ] deserving sympathy:
That cold sounds terrible, you poor thing!
Look at that dog - the poor thing only has three legs.
More examples
- He neglects that poor dog - he never takes him for walks or gives him any attention.
- I hear poor old Frank's lost his job.
- The poor things were kept in small cages without room to move.
- The poor bird couldn't fly because it had a broken wing.
- You poor thing - you're all wet.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Sympathy & compassion
- a good listener idiom
- a shoulder to cry on idiom
- aw
- bad/hard/tough luck! idiom
- better luck next time idiom
- cloud
- feel for sb
- fellow feeling
- go out to sb
- hard luck! idiom
- hard/tough cheese! idiom
- pity
- relate
- relate to sb
- sad
- sensitive
- shoulder
- solace
- sympathy vote
- understanding
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Idiom(s)
be as poor as church mice
come/be a poor second, third, etc.
poor relation
poornoun [ plural ]
uk/pɔːr/us/pʊr/the poor
C1 poor people considered together as a group:
housing for the poor