poverty
Lack of means
Poverty is the state of having little or no money, goods, or means of support.
It ranges from relative deprivation to absolute destitution: Millions live in poverty.
Extended uses describe any severe lack: a poverty of imagination, intellectual poverty.
The poverty line is the minimum income threshold below which a person or family is officially considered poor.
Without a dwelling
- starvationExtreme nutritional deprivation
- slumsImpoverished, crowded districts
- famineSevere food shortage
- pennilessCompletely without money
indigence · squalor · beggars · vagrancy · malnutrition · unsheltered · penury · deprivation
Deficient supply of necessities
- famineSevere food shortage
- droughtProlonged water scarcity
- rationingLimiting distribution during scarcity
- insufficiencyShortfall in amount needed
deficit · dearth · paucity · undersupply · food insecurity · water scarcity · resource · limited
Labored effort against resistance
- survivalRemaining alive against odds
- unemploymentBeing without paid work
- disadvantageUnfavorable circumstance or condition
- vulnerabilityOpenness to harm
marginalization · insecurity · despair · illiteracy · exploitation · oppression · suffering · burden
Economical resource management
- budgetingAllocating funds systematically
- cutbacksReductions in spending
- thriftCareful use of resources
- savingsAccumulated money kept
restraint · simplicity · minimalism · sacrifice · prudence · downsizing · retrenchment · belt-tightening
Measurable difference between things
- gapUnfilled space between
- classismPrejudice by economic rank
- discriminationUnjust differential treatment
- stratificationDivision into distinct levels
privilege · socioeconomic · redistribution · wealth gap · underclass · caste · apartheid · exclusion
homeless
Without a dwelling
- starvationExtreme nutritional deprivation
- slumsImpoverished, crowded districts
- famineSevere food shortage
penniless · indigence · squalor · beggars · vagrancy · malnutrition · unsheltered · penury · deprivation · subsistence
shortage
Deficient supply of necessities
- famineSevere food shortage
- droughtProlonged water scarcity
- rationingLimiting distribution during scarcity
insufficiency · deficit · dearth · paucity · undersupply · food insecurity · water scarcity · resource · limited · inadequacy
struggle
Labored effort against resistance
- survivalRemaining alive against odds
- unemploymentBeing without paid work
- disadvantageUnfavorable circumstance or condition
vulnerability · marginalization · insecurity · despair · illiteracy · exploitation · oppression · suffering · burden · adversity
frugality
Economical resource management
- budgetingAllocating funds systematically
- cutbacksReductions in spending
- thriftCareful use of resources
savings · restraint · simplicity · minimalism · sacrifice · prudence · downsizing · retrenchment · belt-tightening · economizing
disparity
Measurable difference between things
- gapUnfilled space between
- classismPrejudice by economic rank
- discriminationUnjust differential treatment
stratification · privilege · socioeconomic · redistribution · wealth gap · underclass · caste · apartheid · exclusion · elitism
- social issuesinequality, racism, illiteracy, homelessness, child labor
- deprivationlack, deprivation, need, want, shortage
- global issuesclimate change, water scarcity, inequality, pandemics, refugees
- hard timeshardship, struggle, struggling, unemployment, tough times
- hardshiphardship, adversity, difficulty, trouble, struggle
- inequalitywealth gap, income gap, disparity, wage gap, income disparity
povertywealth
Abundance of valuable resources
riches · affluence · prosperity · opulence · richness
- poverty cycleSelf-reinforcing economic disadvantage
- poverty lineIncome cutoff marking need
- relative povertyLacking versus local norms
- cycle of povertySelf-perpetuating economic disadvantage
- extreme povertyIncome below survival threshold
- living in povertyLacking basic financial resources
impoverished, impoverish, poverty-stricken, impoverishment, impoverishing, poverty line, poverty traps, poverty trap