# poverty

Pronunciation: US say "PAH-vur-tee" /ˈpɑːvɚti/; UK say "PO-vuh-tee" /ˈpɒvəti/

## Noun

1. The condition of being poor; a lack of money and the material resources needed to live.
   - Simple: The state of being poor and not having enough money to live well.
   - _Decades of conflict left much of the region trapped in deep poverty._
   - _Government pension reforms were designed to reduce poverty among the elderly._
2. A shortage or lack of something needed or desired, such as ideas, resources, or quality.
   - Simple: A lack of something that is needed or wanted.
   - _The report revealed a striking poverty of new ideas in the department._
   - _Critics complained about the poverty of imagination in the film's sequel._

## Origin

This word comes from Middle English poverte, from Old French poverté (Modern French pauvreté), from Latin paupertās, built from pauper ("poor") plus a suffix meaning a state or condition. It is related to the words pauper and poor.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/poverty (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).