Synonyms of hard up
56 similar words
Another word for hard up is almsless. Other synonyms of hard up are arm, badly off, bankrupt, beggared and beggarly.
Synonyms and similar words for hard up
adjectiveLacking money; impecunious; in financial difficulties.
- almslessNot having any alms; impoverished.
- arm
- badly offIn unfortunate circumstances, especially having financial difficulty.
- bankruptIn a condition of bankruptcy; unable to pay outstanding debts or meet financial obligations; specifically, having been...
- beggaredPoor; empoverished.
- beggarly
- boracic
- brokeWithout any money, penniless.
- brokenHaving no money; bankrupt, broke.
- broker than the Ten CommandmentsExtremely impoverished.
- destituteLacking money, poor, impoverished; especially, extremely so.
- dirt poor
- disadvantaged
- down and outIn a condition of poverty or debility, especially as a result of experiencing a financial or personal setback.
- down at heel
- down on one's luckUnlucky or undergoing a period of bad luck, especially with respect to financial matters.
- down on one's uppersImpecunious, lacking money.
- empty-handed
- farthinglessWithout a farthing; very poor.
- feeling the pinch
- flat
- goodlessWithout goods or property; destitute.
- impecuniousLacking money.
- impoverished
- in need
- indigentPoor; destitute; in need.
- insolvent
- lower-class
- moneylessHaving no (or very little) money.
- necessitous
- needy
- pauperized
- pennilessLacking even the smallest amount of money.
- penuriousImpoverished; wanting for money.
- pinched
- pok kai slangHaving no money; broke; bankrupt.
- poorWith no or few possessions or money, particularly in relation to contemporaries who do have them.
- poor as a church mouseVery poor, to the point of starving or begging; utterly destitute.
- poor as a ratSynonym of poor as a church mouse.
- poor as JobExtremely poor, destitute.
- possessionlessWithout possessions.
- poverty-ridden
- poverty-strickenVery poor.
- shillinglessWithout a shilling; broke.
- skint
- stone-broke
- stony-broke
- strapped
- unwealthyNot wealthy.
- wealthlessHaving little or no wealth; poor.
- depauperate obsolete
- groatless archaic, rareWithout a groat; very poor.
- oofless UK, datedShort of money; poor.
- stuck archaic, slangIn the situation of having no money.
- threadbare archaic, obsoleteOf a person: wearing clothes of threadbare (sense 1) material; hence, impoverished, poor.
verbSynonym of harden up (to become or make hard).
Meaning of hard up
- adjective Lacking money; impecunious; in financial difficulties.
- adjective Lacking anything.
- adjective Desperate.
hard up in other languages
Questions about synonyms of hard up
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: hard up (page history and authors) and the entries of the words listed. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws grouped the synonyms and antonyms by meaning and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “Synonyms of hard up.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/synonyms/hard_up. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.