having little or no money, goods, or other means of support

a poor family living on welfare.

Law . dependent upon charity or public support.

(of a country, institution, etc.) meagerly supplied or endowed with resources or funds.

characterized by or showing poverty.

deficient or lacking in something specified

a region poor in mineral deposits.

faulty or inferior, as in construction

poor workmanship.

deficient in desirable ingredients, qualities, or the like

poor soil.

excessively lean or emaciated, as cattle.

of an inferior, inadequate, or unsatisfactory kind

poor health.

lacking in skill, ability, or training

a poor cook.

deficient in moral excellence; cowardly, abject, or mean.

scanty, meager, or paltry in amount or number

a poor audience.

humble; modest

They shared their poor meal with a stranger.

unfortunate; hapless

The poor dog was limping.

( used with a plural verb ) poor persons collectively (usually prec. by the )

sympathy for the poor.

poor as a church mouse

extremely poor.

poor as Job's turkey

extremely poor; impoverished.

adjective

affluent , rich , wealthy , adequate , sufficient , superior , fertile , potent , strong , fortunate , great , happy , lucky

adjective

bad off * , bankrupt , beggared , beggarly , behind eight ball , broke * , destitute , dirt poor , down-and-out * , empty-handed , flat * , flat broke , fortuneless , hard up * , impecunious , impoverished , indigent , in need , insolvent , in want , low , meager , moneyless , necessitous , needy , pauperized , penniless , penurious , pinched , poverty-stricken , reduced , scanty * , stone broke , strapped * , suffering , truly needy , underprivileged , unprosperous , base , below par , common , contemptible , crude , diminutive , dwarfed , exiguous , faulty , feeble , humble , imperfect , incomplete , inferior , insignificant , insufficient , lacking , low-grade , lowly , mean , mediocre , miserable , modest , niggardly , ordinary , paltry , pitiable , pitiful , plain , rotten , scanty , second-rate * , shabby , shoddy , skimpy , slight , sorry * , sparse , subnormal , subpar , substandard , trifling , trivial , unsatisfactory , valueless , weak , worthless , bare , barren , depleted , exhausted , fruitless , impaired , indisposed , infertile , infirm , puny , sick , sterile , unfruitful , unproductive , commiserable , hapless , ill-fated , luckless , pathetic , piteous , rueful , unlucky , wretched , down-and-out , bum , cheap , lousy , sleazy , trashy , scant , spare , stingy , thin , ruthful , abject , angular , bony , broke , cheesy , defective , deprived , despicable , disadvantaged , distressed , effete infecund , eleemosynary , emaciated , empty , gaunt , haggard , hungry , ill , inadequate , inarable , inauspicious , lean , peaked , poverty -stricken , rawboned , resourceless , scrawny , seedy , skinny , sordid , sorry , squalid , straitened , strapped , tacky , undesirable , unfavorable , unfortunate , unpropitious