Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1100-1200
Language: Old French
Origin: poverté, from Latin paupertas, from pauper; POOR

poverty

 noun
     
pov‧er‧ty W3
1 [uncountable] the situation or experience of being poor [↪ poor, impoverished]COLLOCATIONS COLLOCATIONS
live/grow up/die in poverty fight/combat poverty (=try to end poverty) alleviate/relieve poverty (=improve poverty) extreme/severe poverty abject/grinding/dire poverty (=extreme poverty) urban/rural poverty (=poverty of people in cities or the countryside)
Millions of elderly people live in poverty.
We need an effective strategy to fight poverty.
continued efforts to alleviate poverty and raise living standards
the causes of urban poverty
2

the poverty line

also the poverty level American EnglishPEW the income below which a person or a family is officially considered to be very poor and in need of help:
20% of the population now live below the poverty line.
3

the poverty trap

a situation in which a poor person without a job cannot afford to take a low paying job because they would lose the money they receive from the government
4 [singular,uncountable] formal a lack of a particular quality
poverty of
The novel shows a surprising poverty of imagination.
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

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