Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - poverty

 noun  Usage: often attributive  Etymology: Middle English poverte, from Anglo-French poverte, from Latin paupertat-, paupertas, from pauper poor — more at poor  Date: 12th century  1.  a. the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions  b. renunciation as a member of a religious order of the right as an individual to own property  2. scarcity, dearth  3.  a. debility due to malnutrition  b. lack of fertility Synonyms:  ~, indigence, penury, want, destitution mean the state of one with insufficient resources. ~ may cover a range from extreme want of necessities to an absence of material comforts the extreme ~ of the slum dwellers. indigence implies seriously straitened circumstances the indigence of her years as a graduate student. penury suggests a cramping or oppressive lack of money a catastrophic illness that condemned them to years of penury. want and destitution imply extreme ~ that threatens life itself through starvation or exposure lived in a perpetual state of want the widespread destitution in countries beset by famine.