mindmap root((贫穷)) poverty may cover a range from extreme want of necessities to a falling short of having comfortable means: the extreme ~ of many Americans. indigence implies seriously straitened circumstances and the accompanying hardships: the ~ of her years as a graduate student. penury suggests a cramping and oppressive lack of resources, especially money: given the ~ of their lifestyle, few suspected their wealth. want implies extreme poverty that deprives one of the basic necessities of life: lived in a constant state of ~. destitution suggests such utter lack of resources as threatens life through starvation or exposure: the widespread ~ of countries beset by famine.