1. (n.) The quality or state of being poor or indigent; want or scarcity of means of subsistence; indigence; need.

2. (n.) Any deficiency of elements or resources that are needed or desired, or that constitute richness; as, poverty of soil; poverty of the blood; poverty of ideas.

beggary dearth destitution difficulty distress embarrassment exigency hand-to-mouth existence hardship impecuniousness impoverishment inadequacy indigence insolvency insufficiency juncture lack mendicancy necessity need neediness pass paucity pauperism pennilessness penury pinch poorness privation rareness rarity scant scant sufficiency scantiness scarceness scarcity shortage sparseness sparsity strait suffering uncommonness unprosperousness want