Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

impoverished

/ɪmˈpɑvəɹɪʃt/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: 3.35 in modern English

Syllables: im-pov-er-ished
IPA: /ɪmˈpɑvəɹɪʃt/

23

Scrabble Score

12

Letters

4

Syllables

10

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Reduced to poverty.

adj

Lacking in richness, diversity or health.

adj

Lacking in richness, diversity or health.

adj

Lacking in richness, diversity or health.

verb

simple past and past participle of impoverish

Example Sentences

"The impoverished soil here can not support any crop."
"English has an impoverished inflectional system."
"[I]t was out of print for 28 years, before an edition (now rare) was published in 1960, impoverished by having all citations removed."
"The fossil record from this era is impoverished."

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /ɪmˈpɑvəɹɪʃt/
British English: /ɪmˈpɒv(ə)ɹɪʃt/

Inflected Forms

more impoverished (comparative) most impoverished (superlative)

Derived Forms

impoverishedly impoverishedness unimpoverished

Frequently Paired Words

underemployed underprivileged unemployed poverty pauper

Synonyms

poor defective almsless arm badly off bankrupt beggared beggarly boracic broke broken broker than the Ten Commandments

Antonyms

affluent comfortably off flush loaded pecunious rich wealthy well-fixed well-heeled well off well-off well-to-do

Questions

How do you pronounce impoverished?: The recorded pronunciation is /ɪmˈpɑvəɹɪʃt/.
What does impoverished mean?: Reduced to poverty.

How to pronounce impoverished

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “impoverished”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ɪmˈpɑvəɹɪʃt/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “impoverished”.
Repeat and practice — Say “impoverished” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.