as in impoverished
lacking money or material possessions
growing up dirt-poor in the rural South
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of dirt-poor
Cut to 1981, in a dirt-poor neighbourhood of Santiago de Chile, an adolescent Carlos gets his sneakers stolen by another kid, Clavo.
—
John Hopewell,
Variety,
17 Feb. 2026
The company was born from the will of a man who grew up dirt-poor in Baltimore, flunked fifth grade, served in Vietnam and became a billionaire.
—
Edgar Thompson,
The Orlando Sentinel,
24 Jan. 2026
Think of him as a dirt-poor man’s Brett Favre.
—
Vic Tafur,
New York Times,
23 Jan. 2026
The tough, ingenious (and dirt-poor) Houthis, protected by Yemen’s mountainous interior, fought back with the tenacity of drug-resistant microbes.
—
Seth Harp,
Harpers Magazine,
19 Sep. 2025
But the Shoutin’, Rick Bragg’s first family memoir about growing up dirt-poor in Alabama.
—
Literary Hub,
17 Sep. 2025
Many readers addressed their fan letters not to the author, Betty Smith, but to her main character, Francie Nolan, a dirt-poor tenement child with big dreams.
—
Perri Klass,
The New Yorker,
30 Dec. 2024
Roberta Ceretto’s grandfather Riccardo moved to Alba in the 1930s from a dirt-poor village in the high Langhe and found work with a local wine producer.
—
Lee Marshall,
Condé Nast Traveler,
10 Mar. 2022
The attention to quotidian labor in harsh conditions at times calls to mind Luchino Visconti’s classic 1948 neorealist docudrama about dirt-poor Sicilian fishermen, La Terra Trema.
—
David Rooney,
HollywoodReporter,
3 Sep. 2019
John Hopewell,
Variety,
17 Feb. 2026
The company was born from the will of a man who grew up dirt-poor in Baltimore, flunked fifth grade, served in Vietnam and became a billionaire.
—
Edgar Thompson,
The Orlando Sentinel,
24 Jan. 2026
Think of him as a dirt-poor man’s Brett Favre.
—
Vic Tafur,
New York Times,
23 Jan. 2026
The tough, ingenious (and dirt-poor) Houthis, protected by Yemen’s mountainous interior, fought back with the tenacity of drug-resistant microbes.
—
Seth Harp,
Harpers Magazine,
19 Sep. 2025
But the Shoutin’, Rick Bragg’s first family memoir about growing up dirt-poor in Alabama.
—
Literary Hub,
17 Sep. 2025
Many readers addressed their fan letters not to the author, Betty Smith, but to her main character, Francie Nolan, a dirt-poor tenement child with big dreams.
—
Perri Klass,
The New Yorker,
30 Dec. 2024
Roberta Ceretto’s grandfather Riccardo moved to Alba in the 1930s from a dirt-poor village in the high Langhe and found work with a local wine producer.
—
Lee Marshall,
Condé Nast Traveler,
10 Mar. 2022
The attention to quotidian labor in harsh conditions at times calls to mind Luchino Visconti’s classic 1948 neorealist docudrama about dirt-poor Sicilian fishermen, La Terra Trema.
—
David Rooney,
HollywoodReporter,
3 Sep. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dirt-poor
Adjective
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This British drama series follows a woman named Emma over the course of more than six decades of her life, from the 1900s through the 1970s, working her way from impoverished maid to the world’s richest woman.
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Known as a Neglected Tropical Disease because of the lack of funding to fight it, schistosomiasis is a serious challenge for impoverished communities.
Adjective
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Because of that, these hands suffer from high production costs, poor durability against impacts, short operational lifespans, and there are no existing solutions that engineers can readily draw upon, Wang added.
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The extreme heat can also affect people who are physically ill, especially those with heart disease or high blood pressure, or who take certain medications, such as for depression, insomnia, or poor circulation.
Cite this Entry
“Dirt-poor.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dirt-poor. Accessed 5 Jul. 2026.
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