1lacking sufficient money to live at a standard considered comfortable or normal in a society:they were too poor to afford a telephone (as plural noun the poor)the gap between the rich and the poor has widened
(of a place) inhabited by people with little money:the world’s poorest countries
2of a low or inferior standard or quality:many people are eating a very poor diether work was poor
(poor in) deficient or lacking in:the water is poor in nutrients
dated used ironically to deprecate something belonging to or offered by oneself:he is, in my poor opinion, a more handsome young man
3 [attributive] (of a person) deserving of pity or sympathy:they enquired after poor Dorothy’s broken hip
(as) poor as a church mouse
extremely poor.
poor little rich boy (or girl)
a wealthy young person whose money brings them no contentment.
the poor man's ——
an inferior or cheaper substitute for the thing specified:corduroy has always been the poor man’s velvet
poor relation
a person or thing that is considered inferior or subordinate to others of the same type or group:for many years radio has been the poor relation of the media
take a poor view of
regard with disapproval:Heraclitus took a poor view of popular religion
