Word
impecunious
Phoneticsim·pe·cu·nious
US/ˌɪmpəˈkjuniəs/
UK/ˌɪmpɪkjˈuːnɪəs/
Definition
adj. having very little or no money. It is a more formal way to say someone is poor, often used to describe someone who stays poor for a long time.
adj. having little or no money; habitually penniless. Often used in a literary or formal context to describe a chronic state of poverty rather than a temporary lack of funds.
Examples
“The impecunious student lived on bread and water.”
“Despite his noble family name, he remained impecunious throughout his life due to his father's gambling debts.”
“The novel follows the struggles of an impecunious artist in 19th-century Paris, whose creative genius is constantly stifled by the mundane necessity of finding his next meal.”
Examples
simple
“The impecunious student lived on bread and water.”
contextual
“Despite his noble family name, he remained impecunious throughout his life due to his father's gambling debts.”
complex
“The novel follows the struggles of an impecunious artist in 19th-century Paris, whose creative genius is constantly stifled by the mundane necessity of finding his next meal.”
Usage
Typically used as a formal or literary synonym for 'poor'. Often appears in predicative position after linking verbs like 'remain' or 'become'.
Real-World Examples
“Francis Bacon famously destroyed all his early work, and an impecunious Picasso would paint over pictures he thought unsuccessful because he didn't have the money to buy a fresh canvas.” “It seems to be Becky Sharp's fate to be a governess: she is clever, educated and impecunious, so she takes a job in the household of Sir Pitt Crawley.” “Unmarried, he is slouching into an impecunious and unloved middle age, apprehensive about the coming changes in medical practice and pessimistic about his future.” “Tom Ripley, an impecunious but ambitious American, secures a trip to Europe to look up a tenuous acquaintance of his, Dickie Greenleaf, and persuade him to return to the US.” Etymology
From Latin pecūniōsus ("full of money") — itself from pecūnia ("money") plus the adjectival suffix -ōsus ("full of") — with the negative prefix im- attached in English to yield the sense of lacking what the Latin original possessed.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/impecunious