First Known Use: 15th century
Dictionary
indigent
adjective in·di·gent \ˈin-di-jənt\
: lacking money : very poor
Full Definition of INDIGENT
1
: suffering from extreme poverty : impoverished
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Examples of INDIGENT
- … every day, I fled the house and drove aimlessly over mountain roads that passed by indigent farms and strange, unpainted churches. —Mark Singer, New Yorker, 25 Dec. 2000 & 1 Jan. 2001
- A land post was offered him in November, 1765, as Governor of Greenwich Hospital, a shelter for disabled and indigent seamen and a place affording many openings for jobbery (the contemporary term for bureaucratic graft). —Barbara W. Tuchman, The First Salute, 1988
- He went around climbing dark stairs and knocking on doors and taking flash photos of indigent families in their dwellings. —E.L. Doctorow, Ragtime, (1974) 1975
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Origin of INDIGENT
Middle English, from Middle French, from Old French, from Latin indigent-, indigens, present participle of indigēre to need, from Old Latin indu + Latin egēre to need; perhaps akin to Old High German echerode poor
Related to INDIGENT
- Synonyms
- beggared, beggarly, broke, destitute, dirt-poor, down-and-out, famished, hard up, impecunious, impoverished, poor, necessitous, needful, needy, pauperized, penniless, penurious, poverty-stricken, skint [chiefly British], threadbare
- Antonyms
- affluent, deep-pocketed, fat, fat-cat, flush, moneyed (also monied), opulent, rich, silk-stocking, wealthy, well-heeled, well-off, well-to-do
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