impoverish

C2+ Topic:Money & Finance
US /ɪmˈpɑvɚɪʃ/ UK /ɪmˈpɒvərɪʃ/
verb

Meanings

  1. 1
    verb

    to make poor, or to deprive of strength or richness

    Decades of war had impoverished the once-prosperous region.

Thesaurus

Synonyms
1 verb · to make poor, or to deprive... bankruptruinbeggardepleteexhaustdrainweaken
Opposites
Word family
Forms impoverishesimpoverishingimpoverishment
Derived forms impoverishmentimpoverishedimpoverisher
Related forms poorpoverty

Etymology

From Old French empoverir, empovrir ('to make poor'), from en- ('in, make') + povre ('poor'), from Latin pauper ('poor').

View etymology graph ->

Topics

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