poor

poor: adjective
1 NO MONEY having very little money and not many possessions: Her family were so poor they couldn't afford to buy her new clothes. | Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world. | a poor neighborhood

2 the poor people who are poor: state subsidies to help the poor buy basic foods

3 NOT GOOD not as good as it could be or should be; inferior 1 (1): Poor sanitation can lead to the spread of diseases. | The soil in this area is very poor. | poor rates of pay | poor hearing/eyesight/memory: You'd better read it to me - my eyesight's pretty poor.

4 poor boy/girl/Joe etc especially spoken used to show pity for someone because they are so unlucky, unhappy etc: Poor kid, he's had a rough day. | I feel sorry for the poor horse with me riding it. | poor thing: You poor thing, you've had a hard time of it, haven't you? | poor old: Poor old Lou, having to work at weekends.

5 NOT GOOD AT STH not good at doing something: a poor public speaker
(+ at): poor at spelling
6 make a poor job of to do something badly: The builders have made a really poor job of fixing our roof.

7 HEALTH someone whose health is poor is ill or weak for a long period of time: be in poor health: My parents are both in rather poor health.

8 poor in sth lacking things that people need: fatty snacks that are poor in nutrients

9 poor loser someone who behaves badly if they lose a game

10 be a poor second/third etc to finish a race, competition etc a long way behind the person ahead of you

11 poor man's spoken often humorous
a) used to say that someone is like a very famous performer, writer etc but is not as good as they are: He's a kind of poor man's Richard Gere.
b) used to say that something can be used for the same purpose as something else, and is much cheaper: The abacus is the poor man's pocket calculator.

12 poor relation someone or something that is not treated as well as other members of a group or is much less successful than they are: Theatre musicians tend to be the poor relations of the musical profession.
—see also: be in bad/poor taste taste 1 (6), poorly 1, poorness

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Synonyms:

Indigent, needy, necessitous, pinched, straitened, The indigent, the needy / Miserable, wretched, unfortunate, luckless, ill-fated, ill-starred, unlucky, unhappy, pitiable / Meagre, insufficient, inadequate, scant, small / Faulty, unsatisfactory / Thin, scanty / Weak, feeble, flimsy / Penniless, moneyless, impecunious, destitute, distressed, poverty-stricken, seedy, reduced, short of money, out of money, without a penny, out of pocket, out of cash, out at the elbows, out at the heels, in need, in want, hard up, in distress, living from hand to mouth, not worth a farthing, not worth a sou, not rich, badly off, poorly off, Paupers / Emaciated, lean, thin, meagre, lank, gaunt, skinny, shrunk, fallen away / Barren, sterile, unfruitful, unfertile, unproductive, fruitless, unprolific / Trifling, trivial, slight, small, slender, flimsy, insufficient, inadequate, worthless, unimportant, of little use or worth, valueless, paltry / Unsound, infirm, feeble, delicate, weak, frail / Shabby, seedy, worthless, valueless, inferior, not good / Contemptible, despicable, paltry, mean, sorry, beggarly, pitiful, shabby, bad, low, inferior / Feeble, languid, weak, bald, tame, jejune, vapid, cold, frigid, dull, prosing, prosy, prosaic, spiritless, barren, mean, meagre, dry

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poor — W1S1 [po: US pur] adj comparative poorer superlative poorest ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ 1¦(no money)¦ 2¦(not good)¦ 3¦(sympathy)¦ 4¦(not good at something)¦ 5¦(health)¦ 6 poor in something 7 a poor second/third etc … Dictionary of contemporary English
Poor — Poor, a. [Compar. {Poorer} (?; 254); superl. {Poorest}.] [OE. poure or povre, OF. povre, F. pauvre, L. pauper; the first syllable of which is probably akin to paucus few (see {Paucity}, {Few}), and the second to parare to prepare, procure. See… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
poor — [ pur ] adjective *** ▸ 1 lacking money ▸ 2 of low quality ▸ 3 not good enough ▸ 4 not skillful ▸ 5 lacking something important ▸ 6 less than expected ▸ 7 feeling sorry for someone ▸ + PHRASES 1. ) having little money and few possessions: a poor… … Usage of the words and phrases in modern English
poor — [poor] adj. [ME pore < OFr povre < L pauper, poor < IE base * pōu , small > FEW, FOAL] 1. a) lacking material possessions; having little or no means to support oneself; needy; impoverished b) indicating or characterized by poverty 2.… … English World dictionary
Poor — is an adjective related to a state of poverty, low quality or pity.People with the surname Poor: * Charles Henry Poor, a US Navy officer * Charles Lane Poor, an astronomer * Edward Erie Poor, a vice president of the National Park Bank * Enoch… … Wikipedia
poor — UK US /pɔːr/ US /pʊr/ adjective ► having little money and/or few possessions: »It s offering to pay off 10 percent of the poor countries debt. »He came from a poor immigrant family. ► not good or operating well, or of a low quality or standard:… … Financial and business terms
poor — ► ADJECTIVE 1) lacking sufficient money to live at a comfortable or normal standard. 2) of a low or inferior standard or quality. 3) (poor in) lacking in. 4) deserving pity or sympathy. ● the poor man s Cf. ↑the poor man s … English terms dictionary
poor — adj 1 Poor, indigent, needy, destitute, penniless, impecunious, poverty stricken, necessitous are comparable when they mean having less money or fewer possessions than are required to support a full life. Poor describes a person, a people, or an… … New Dictionary of Synonyms
poor — (adj.) c.1200, from O.Fr. poure (Fr. pauvre), from L. pauper poor, perhaps a compound of paucus little and parare to get. Replaced O.E. earm. The poor boy sandwich, made of simple but filling ingredients, was invented and named in New Orleans in… … Etymology dictionary
poor — [adj1] lacking sufficient money bad off*, bankrupt, beggared, beggarly, behind eight ball*, broke*, destitute, dirt poor*, down andout*, empty handed*, flat*, flat broke*, fortuneless, hard up*, impecunious, impoverished, indigent, in need,… … New thesaurus
Poor — ist der Familienname folgender Personen: Enoch Poor (1736–1780), Schiffbauer und Händler aus Exeter, Brigadegeneral der Kontinentalarmee im Amerikanischen Unabhängigkeitskrieg. Salem Poor (* 1758), afroamerikanischer Soldat, der für seine… … Deutsch Wikipedia

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Longman dictionary of contemporary English

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