poverty.

1. A condition of having insufficient resources to meet basic or socially required needs under the relevant standard.

2. A marked lack of substance, quality or adequate resources in something.

3. Religious renunciation of personal wealth or ownership according to a particular tradition or commitment.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• income poverty
• persistent poverty

On the page

Income poverty was measured against a stated threshold rather than inferred from appearance.

Persistent poverty limited available choices without providing a complete explanation of each person’s conduct.

Usage notes

Primary category: economics / business / social science. Forms: Usually uncountable. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: social explanation, distributional analysis, population description, concept distinction. Disciplines: social science, economics, public policy. Commonness: moderately common.