penury
noun
[ ˈpɛnjʊri ]
• the state of being very poor; extreme poverty.
• "he couldn't face another year of penury"
Similar:
extreme/dire poverty,
pennilessness,
impecuniousness,
impoverishment,
indigence,
need,
neediness,
want,
destitution,
privation,
deprivation,
hardship,
beggary,
bankruptcy,
insolvency,
ruin,
reduced circumstances,
straitened circumstances,
pauperism,
pauperdom,
mendicity,
Origin:
late Middle English: from Latin penuria ‘need, scarcity’; perhaps related to paene ‘almost’.
