Impoverish

//ɪmˈpɒv(ə)ɹɪʃ// verb

verb ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To make poor. transitive
  2. 2
    become poorer wordnet
  3. 3
    To weaken in quality; to deprive of some strength or richness. transitive

    "That exuberant crop quickly impoverishes any fertile soil."

  4. 4
    make poor wordnet
  5. 5
    To become poor. intransitive

Synonyms

All synonyms
depleteruinablateabsorbassimilatebankrupt

Antonyms

All antonyms
enrich

Example

More examples

"They are trying to impoverish people."

Etymology

From Middle English empoverishen, impoverishen, empoverischen, enpoverisshen, Anglo-Norman empoveriss-, from Old French empoverir, from em- + povre, from Latin pauper (“poor”) (English poor).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.