poor

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   unsatisfactory

   a poor light for reading

2. 2
   adj

   having little money or few possessions

   deplored the gap between rich and poor countries

3. 3
   adj

   lacking in specific resources, qualities or substances

   a poor land

4. 4
   adj

   characterized by or indicating poverty

   the country had a poor economy

5. 5
   noun

   people without possessions or wealth (considered as a group)

   the urban poor need assistance

6. 6
   adj

   With no or few possessions or money, particularly in relation to contemporaries who do have them.

   We were so poor that we couldn't afford shoes.

7. 7
   adj

   Of low quality.

   That was a poor performance.

8. 8
   adj

   Worthy of pity.

   Oh, you poor thing, you're drenched!

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English povre, povere, from Old French (and Anglo-Norman) povre, poure, from Latin pauper, from Old Latin *pavo-pars (literally “getting little”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂w- (“few, small”). Doublet of pauper. Displaced native arm, wantsome, Middle English unlede (“poor”) (from Old English unlǣde), Middle English unweli, unwely (“poor, unwealthy”) (from Old English un- + weliġ (“well-to-do, prosperous, rich”)).