as in beggar
old-fashioned
a very poor person who has no money to pay for food, clothing, etc.
a story about a rich man and a pauper who switch places
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Recent Examples of pauper
This sudden outburst earns her a pauper’s grave, after she’s hauled out of the restaurant and shoved, accidentally or intentionally, down the stairs.
—
Alison Willmore,
Vulture,
5 Mar. 2026
In fact many of the characters—even Big Gunna, one of the great larger-than-life paupers of Laxness’s oeuvre—did live in Mosfellsdalur and went by the names Laxness gives them in the book.
—
Literary Hub,
11 Feb. 2026
Tate eventually moved in with her family, who rejected Austen; Austen moved to the Staten Island Farm Colony, a pauper’s hospital.
—
Molly Fischer,
New Yorker,
22 Nov. 2025
When the new sections were added, the old burying ground became a pauper's cemetery for poor White and and Black residents.
—
Alexandria Burris,
IndyStar,
14 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for pauper
Alison Willmore,
Vulture,
5 Mar. 2026
In fact many of the characters—even Big Gunna, one of the great larger-than-life paupers of Laxness’s oeuvre—did live in Mosfellsdalur and went by the names Laxness gives them in the book.
—
Literary Hub,
11 Feb. 2026
Tate eventually moved in with her family, who rejected Austen; Austen moved to the Staten Island Farm Colony, a pauper’s hospital.
—
Molly Fischer,
New Yorker,
22 Nov. 2025
When the new sections were added, the old burying ground became a pauper's cemetery for poor White and and Black residents.
—
Alexandria Burris,
IndyStar,
14 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for pauper
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pauper
Noun
-
Gobert was chief among the beggars imploring his teammates for a shred of consistency on that end of the floor.
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So disguised as a beggar, Odysseus shows up at his palace, and he is not treated very nicely by the suitors who have camped out in his house.
Noun
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Lower than proletariat workers, the lumpenproletariat includes the indigent and the unemployable, those cast out of the workforce with no recourse, or those who can’t enter it in the first place, such as young workers in times of economic depression.
Noun
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Historically in Chicago, parent fundraising has been a story of have versus have-not schools, a dynamic threatening to drive deeper inequity in a segregated district.
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Often, football is described as a game of haves and have-nots.
Cite this Entry
“Pauper.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pauper. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.
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