# poverty-stricken

CEFR B2 · Adjective

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/poverty-stricken
Updated: 2026-08-25

## Definition

extremely poor; having almost no money or basic necessities. You often use this to describe families, areas, or countries that suffer from severe poverty.

For teachers: suffering from severe economic deprivation; destitute. Typically used attributively to describe individuals, families, or regions experiencing extreme material hardship.

## Examples

- The poverty-stricken village lacks clean water.
- International aid organizations sent food packages to the poverty-stricken region after the drought destroyed the harvest.
- The novel depicts poverty-stricken coal miners whose daily struggle for survival gradually hardens into a quiet, desperate rage against the company town's exploitative system.

## Usage notes

- Primarily used attributively before the noun it modifies; predicative use (*the area is poverty-stricken) is grammatically acceptable but less frequent in formal registers.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.