Definitions for: Penury


[n] a state of extreme poverty or destitution; "their indigence appalled him"; "a general state of need exists among the homeless"



Webster (1913) Definition: Pen"u*ry, n. [L. penuria; cf. Gr. ? hunger, ? poverty,
need, ? one who works for his daily bread, a poor man, ? to
work for one's daily bread, to be poor: cf. F. p['e]nurie.]
1. Absence of resources; want; privation; indigence; extreme
poverty; destitution. ``A penury of military forces.''
--Bacon.

They were exposed to hardship and penury. --Sprat.

It arises in neither from penury of thought.
--Landor.

2. Penuriousness; miserliness. [Obs.] --Jer. Taylor.

Synonyms: beggary, indigence, need, pauperism, pauperization

See Also: impoverishment, poorness, poverty

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