penniless
/ˈpɛ.nɪ.ləs/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.85 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
3
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
adj
Of a country's system of money, abstaining from the use of penny coins, despite having fully decimalized currency, by means of rounding of cash transactions (but not necessarily of cashless ones).
Example Sentences
- "In societies without national insurance of any kind, almshouses are the last refuge of penniless people."
- "In a functioning digital economy, being cashless is far different from being penniless, because cash is merely one form of money; but some preppers hoard gold in case the system gets destroyed and cashlessness suddenly becomes pennilessness."
- "A dollar and a quarter seems a small sum, but if you are absolutely penniless it might as well be a thousand."
- "This time was most dreadful for Lilian. Thrown on her own resources and almost penniless, she maintained herself and paid the rent of a wretched room near the hospital by working as a charwoman, sempstress, anything. In a moment she had dropped to the level of a casual labourer."
- "Canada became a penniless country in 2013 simply by rounding its cash transactions to the nearest nickel but otherwise not changing anything."
Etymology
From Middle English penyles, penylees; equivalent to penny + -less. Compare Old Norse penningalauss (“penniless”).