dirt poor
Without a cent
Dirt poor describes extreme poverty—being so lacking in money or resources that one has practically nothing.
The phrase intensifies poor by comparing someone's financial state to dirt, which costs nothing and lies beneath everyone's feet.
They grew up dirt poor in rural Appalachia.
We were dirt poor, but we never went hungry.
The expression carries connotations of hardship endured with dignity rather than shame.
Completely without money
- destituteUtterly without means
- impoverishedExtremely lacking in money
- indigentExtremely poor, lacking necessities
- brokeLacking any funds
needy · bankrupt · insolvent · impecunious · pauperized · moneyless · cashless · underprivileged
Lack of necessities
- deprivationState of lacking necessities
- wantTo desire something
- scarcityInsufficiency of something needed
- adversitySevere difficulty or suffering
suffering · austerity · subsistence · meagerness · insufficiency · penury · neediness · misfortune
Spend very sparingly
- scrapeRub harshly against
- hustleEnergetic, aggressive action
- surviveContinue to exist
- persevereContinue despite obstacles
make ends meet · stretch a dollar · go without · do without · sacrifice · ration · economize · pinch pennies
Farmer paying rent in crops
- tenant farmerOne who leases farmland
- dust bowlErosion-ravaged drought zone
- backwoodsRemote, undeveloped rural area
- hardscrabbleMarked by poverty, toil
rural poverty · Appalachian · migrant worker · subsistence farming · holler
penniless
Completely without money
- destituteUtterly without means
- impoverishedExtremely lacking in money
- indigentExtremely poor, lacking necessities
broke · needy · bankrupt · insolvent · impecunious · pauperized · moneyless · cashless · underprivileged · dispossessed
privation
Lack of necessities
- deprivationState of lacking necessities
- wantTo desire something
- scarcityInsufficiency of something needed
adversity · suffering · austerity · subsistence · meagerness · insufficiency · penury · neediness · misfortune · paucity
scrimp
Spend very sparingly
persevere · make ends meet · stretch a dollar · go without · do without · sacrifice · ration · economize · pinch pennies · cut corners
sharecropper
Farmer paying rent in crops
- tenant farmerOne who leases farmland
- dust bowlErosion-ravaged drought zone
- backwoodsRemote, undeveloped rural area
hardscrabble · rural poverty · Appalachian · migrant worker · subsistence farming · holler
- povertypoverty line, poor, poverty rate, impoverished, generational poverty
- wealth statuspoor, rich, wealthy, affluent, middle-class
- intensifiersvery, really, extremely, absolutely, incredibly
- money slangbucks, dough, moolah, cheddar, cash
- social classupper class, middle class, lower class, working class, social class
dirt poorfilthy rich
Extremely, offensively wealthy
stinking rich · wealthy · rich · affluent · loaded
dirt poorstinking rich
Extremely, offensively affluent
obscenely wealthy · billionaire · multimillionaire · fat cat · one-percenter
dirty, dirt, dirtied, dirtiness, dirtying, dirts, dirt farmer