straitened circumstances
Tight money situation
Straitened circumstances means a state of financial hardship or poverty.
Straitened comes from strait in its old sense of narrow or tight—circumstances that have been squeezed, leaving little room for comfort or choice.
The phrase is somewhat formal or euphemistic: After his business failed, they lived in straitened circumstances.
- fallen on hard timesSuffering misfortune after prosperity
- down on one's luckSuffering temporary misfortune
- necessitousExtremely poor, destitute
- indigenceExtreme poverty, total want
- embarrassmentSelf-conscious unease
poor · poverty · hardship · insolvency · impoverishment · economizing · counting pennies · extreme · destitution · rationing · pinched · austerity · belt tightening · penury · broke · indebtedness · underprivileged · neediness
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