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as in unacceptable
falling short of a standard a pretty poor musician, even for a garage band

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

5
6

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poor quality
lousy quality
inadequate quality
low quality
terrible quality
awful quality
a poor judgment
an unwise judgment
a lousy judgment
a questionable judgment
a horrible judgment
an improper judgment
a poor performance
a weak performance
an unacceptable performance
a negative performance
an inadequate performance
a horrendous performance
a poor condition
a deteriorated condition
a shabby condition
a sub-par condition
a shoddy condition
a pitiful condition
poor nutrition
unbalanced nutrition
improper nutrition
deficient nutrition
unhealthy nutrition
insufficient nutrition

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of poor While repeating faces could just be poor design, missing fingers, limbs, or other abnormalities are typical hallmarks of Gen-AI models. Brian Welk, IndieWire, 4 Feb. 2025 New Day Urban Ministries (formerly Presbyterian Urban Ministries) helps those who are homeless, the urban poor, veterans and those recently released from prison. Elizabeth Marie Himchak, San Diego Union-Tribune, 4 Feb. 2025 Compared to the general population, adults with ADHD have a much higher prevalence of substance abuse, smoking, financial turmoil, unemployment, self-harm, poor sleeping habits, compulsive behaviors and housing instability. New Atlas, 3 Feb. 2025 The Texans’ offensive line was mostly poor this season, unable to consistently protect Stroud. The Athletic Nfl Staff, The Athletic, 24 Jan. 2025 See all Example Sentences for poor 
Recent Examples of Synonyms for poor
Adjective
  • Like De Fontenay’s debut feature Mobile Homes, which followed an impoverished family scraping by in upstate New York, Sukkwan Island has a powerful immersive quality that makes up for some of its dramatic shortcomings, especially dialogue that can feel either stilted or too on-the-nose.
    Jordan Mintzer, The Hollywood Reporter, 25 Jan. 2025
  • The states that voted for Trump also tend to be more dependent on those federal funds and have more impoverished areas.
    Peter Greene, Forbes, 24 Jan. 2025
Adjective
  • For the scenes that take place in the Human World, the crew is going to shoot in a desolate part of Iceland.
    Leo Barraclough, Variety, 27 Jan. 2025
  • What's more, the plane was completely encircled by massive screens that projected high-resolution videos of desolate Alaskan wilderness.
    Marco della Cava, USA TODAY, 23 Jan. 2025
Adjective
  • According to Polanski, although food was scarce, by some miracle Ryszard’s mother, Regina, managed to procure hot chocolate for the kids.
    Danuta Hamlin, Fox News, 25 Jan. 2025
  • Heavy snowfall blanketed the area for the next three days, temperatures hovered at well below freezing, and daylight was scarce.
    Francine Uenuma, Smithsonian Magazine, 23 Jan. 2025
Adjective
  • Nissan's board has decided that Honda’s terms for a merger are unacceptable, according to the Wall Street Journal.
    Anthony Robledo, USA TODAY, 6 Feb. 2025
  • White explained that the UFC had informed Mitchell that his comments were unacceptable.
    Sam Gillette, People.com, 5 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • And both situations can, of course, be traced directly to the same source: years of terrible leadership by the commissioners and university presidents that end up hurting the athletes — and passing the cost of doing business onto the fans.
    Jon Wilner, The Mercury News, 3 Feb. 2025
  • But to add to what is at stake, former Chelsea head coach Graham Potter, who struggled to win the crowd over during a terrible seven months in charge in 2022-23, is returning as the opposition’s manager for the first time since he was sacked.
    Simon Johnson, The Athletic, 3 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • But that resulted in a pitiful rebounding effort and a below-average defense.
    Sabreena Merchant, The Athletic, 21 Jan. 2025
  • This isn’t to say Orlok isn’t evil, but that his evilness does not exclude him from being pitiful.
    Alex Abad-Santos, Vox, 10 Jan. 2025
Adjective
  • Seeger invites the broke musician to stay on his couch and into the heart of his family and takes him under his wing.
    Lee Sharrock, Forbes, 19 Jan. 2025
  • About half of participants lost money, and 1 in 6 went broke.
    Ryan Ermey, CNBC, 13 Jan. 2025
Adjective
  • The Anatolian mountains, where Ali tends to a barren garden, provide a sinister backdrop from which anything, not just a vagabond dropped as if from the sky, can suddenly appear.
    Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 25 Jan. 2025
  • The streets are barren, save for occasional officials’ vehicles.
    Katie Kilkenny, The Hollywood Reporter, 22 Jan. 2025

Thesaurus Entries Near poor

Cite this Entry

“Poor.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/poor. Accessed 9 Feb. 2025.

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