How to use poor in a sentence
40 example sentences · adjective, noun, verb
Poor means with no or few possessions or money, particularly in relation to contemporaries who do have them. Example: “We were so poor that we couldn't afford shoes.”
Examples of poor by meaning
adjectiveWith no or few possessions or money, particularly in relation to contemporaries who do have them.
- We were so poor that we couldn't afford shoes.
- When Owenism and Chartism had burned themselves out, England had become poorer by that substance out of which the Anglo-Saxon ideal of a free society could have been built up for centuries to come.1957 [1944], Karl Polanyi, The Great Transformation, Beacon Press: Boston, page 167
- The poorest of the poor are truly destitute, with so few assets they are basically shackless.2014, George W. Norton, Hunger and Hope: Escaping Poverty and Achieving Food Security in Developing ...
adjectiveOf low quality.
- That was a poor performance.
- Meanwhile, due to a lack of wind, air quality in west Taiwan was poor yesterday, the Environmental Protection Administration said.2021 March 28, “Taiwan News Quick Take”, in Taipei Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 27 Mar 2021, Taiwan News, page 3
adjectiveWorthy of pity.
- Oh, you poor thing, you're drenched!
- This poor little puppy got a nasty snake bite.
- It irritated him shrewdly to know that these moments of respite from carking care would not be shared with his poor wife, with careworn, troubled Ellen.1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter I, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The...
adjectiveDeficient in a specified way.
- Cow's milk is poor in iron.
adjectiveInadequate, insufficient.
- I received a poor reward for all my hard work.
- Business is poor right now.
- She gave him the promise he sought, stifling the voice of conscience; and as she clung to his neck it seemed to her that heaven was a poor thing compared with a man's love.1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide
nounThe poor people of a society or the world collectively, the poor class of a society.
- The sun shines on the rich and the poor alike but, come the rain, the rich have better umbrellas.
- The poor are always with us.
- The rich are often so insulated from reality that they think the poor have extra money they could save for more than a short time.
nounA poor person.
- The poors are at it again.
- Some say it was the poors, or the uneducateds, or even the third-party voters.2018 May 28, Joel Edelman, “Primary election 2018 coverage for the deaf”, in Today's featured shit
verbSynonym of impoverish, to make poor.
- It is very evident that Americans are being ‘poored down’ to suit the world socialist agenda, and to maximize profits for the international corporations.2003 August 10, Dallas News, p. 3
More sentences with poor
- I found a poor little cat. It seems to be half starving.From the entry it
- Residents used the public meeting to air their concerns about the poor state of the roads.From the entry air
- She is a poor place, but has beautiful scenery and friendly people.From the entry she
- Poorer children often have to wear whatever an older sibling has outgrown.From the entry outgrow
- He's such a poor cook, I can't believe he's still in business!From the entry business
- We were so poor we didn't have one stick of furniture.From the entry stick
- The used bookshop wouldn’t offer much due to the poor shape of the book.From the entry shape
- They say he is a poor judge of character considering all the unreliable friends he has made.From the entry judge
- There was so much salt in that thread about the poor casting decision.From the entry salt
- Being from a large, poor family, he learned to live without.From the entry without
- The poor family were turned out of their lodgings at only an hour's notice.From the entry turn out
- The whole town was at the fair, young and old, rich and poor.From the entry fair
- While shaving, the poor sod had a fit and cut part of a lug off.From the entry lug
- My forward vision is fine, but my peripheral vision is poor.From the entry forward
- I grew up in a poor neighborhood; money was very tight, but we made do.From the entry tight
- When the poor have no more to eat, they will eat the rich.From the entry rich
- That thing is a poor excuse for a gingerbread man. Hasn't anyone taught you how to bake?From the entry excuse
- There is a demand for voluntary health workers in the poorer parts of Africa and Asia.From the entry demand
- Anna had always felt inferior to her brother due to poor school grades.From the entry inferior
- Jen may have won, but she was sure a poor sport; she laughed at the loser.From the entry sport
- The poor girl is going spare, stuck in the house all day with the kids like that.From the entry spare
- Ah didn't play butty, ah promise yer. Yo all on yer mek the poor lad yer butty.From the entry butty
Meaning of poor
- adjective With no or few possessions or money, particularly in relation to contemporaries who do have them.
- adjective Of low quality.
- adjective Worthy of pity.
Questions about poor in a sentence
- How do you use poor in a sentence?
- Poor is used as an adjective, noun and verb. For example: “We were so poor that we couldn't afford shoes.”
- What is a short sentence with poor?
- “Business is poor right now.”
- What does poor mean?
- Poor means with no or few possessions or money, particularly in relation to contemporaries who do have them.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: poor (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “How to use poor in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/poor. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.