Definition of: poverty

(pov′ər·tē) noun
1. The state of being poor or without competent subsistence; need; penury.
2. The condition that relates to the absence or scarcity of requisite substance or elements.
3. A lack or meagerness of supply; dearth. [<OF povreté <L paupertas <pauper poor] Synonyms: beggary, destitution, distress, indigence, mendicancy, need, pauperism, penury, privation, want. Poverty denotes a condition below that of easy, comfortable living; privation denotes a condition of painful lack of what is useful or desirable; indigence is lack of ordinary means of subsistence; destitution is lack of the comforts, and even of the necessaries of life; penury is cramping poverty; pauperism is such destitution as throws one upon public charity for support; beggary and mendicancy denote poverty that appeals for indiscriminate private charity.