What does “poor” mean?
- 1
adjectivehaving very little money
He grew up in a poor family.
- 2
adjectiveof low quality or not good enough
The phone signal is poor in this area.
- 3
adjectiveused to show you feel sorry for someone
The poor dog was soaking wet.
Poor at a glance
- Part of speech
- adjective
- CEFR level
- A1 (beginner)
- Pronunciation
- /pʊr/ · POOR
How to use “poor” correctly
“Poor” before a person often means “unlucky”, not “without money”: “Poor Anna, she failed her test.” The noun is “poverty”.
Common phrases with “poor”
- poor quality
- poor health
- the poor
- poor countries
Synonyms, opposites and related words
Word family
- poverty
- poorly
“poor” is on these word lists
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