penniless
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English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English penyles, penylees; equivalent to penny + -less. Compare Old Norse penningalauss (“penniless”).
Pronunciation[edit]
Adjective[edit]
penniless (not comparable)
- Lacking even the smallest amount of money.
- Synonym: farthingless
- 1889, Horatio Alger, chapter 10, in Driven From Home:
- A dollar and a quarter seems a small sum, but if you are absolutely penniless it might as well be a thousand.
- 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XVII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
- This time was most dreadful for Lilian. Thrown on her own resources and almost penniless, she maintained herself and paid the rent of a wretched room near the hospital by working as a charwoman, sempstress, anything. In a moment she had dropped to the level of a casual labourer.
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
utterly without money
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