noun ·4 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The action of impoverishing someone. uncountable, usually
2. 2
   the act of making someone poor wordnet
3. 3
   The state of being impoverished. uncountable, usually
4. 4
   the state of having little or no money and few or no material possessions wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

ablationabsenceabsorptionassimilationattritionbeggary

Example

More examples

"Monolingualism means impoverishment."

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman empoverissement, from the Old French verb empoverir. By surface analysis, impoverish + -ment.

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