Definition of dirt poor in US English:

dirt poor


  • Extremely poor.

    ‘dirt-poor villages’
    • ‘Though they are practically dirt poor, the Evans family is still able to maintain their dignity by being a close knit clan filled with heartwarming laughs and smiles, all the while facing rough adversity.’
    • ‘But until relatively recent times, anybody who worked in farming, except landlords, were dirt poor and worked in abject poverty.’
    • ‘They weren't dirt poor, but a lot of the family's time and resources were spent looking after her eldest sister, who is intellectually disabled and ‘the inspiration of our lives’, she says.’
    • ‘You have a vast country which is seen as dirt poor, but which in reality has the biggest middle class in the world.’
    • ‘In a localized hyper inflationary environment gold would serve the same purpose: We've all heard the story of the dirt poor German bus boy who bought his employer's hotel with a single Double-Eagle received just months previous.’
    • ‘The dirt poor of the nations of the earth cannot buy their way out on airlines.’
    • ‘For a moment I was childishly angry at my mother, here we were dirt poor and struggling and all along I had a rich father, and even at our worst she could have contacted him for money and didn't.’
    • ‘And now that the group is a diverse mix of ten countries - from the appallingly opaque to the wildly democratic, the dirt poor to among the world's richest - it cannot hope to move nimbly or even together.’
    • ‘It is less than 30 years ago that the 20 th-century's bloodiest dictator was approaching death, his country still dirt poor, his vision in ruins, with tens of millions of his fellow citizens dead at his hands.’
    • ‘Joy's discussion does not consider the vast proportion of human beings who are, and will continue to be, dirt poor, and those in the thrall of deadly ethnic and religious passions.’
    • ‘He grew up dirt poor, worked hard, got into good schools, worked his way up.’
    • ‘We were taken to villages where people were working on coffee plantations that weren't fair trade and these people were dirt poor.’
    • ‘‘Face it, we're dirt poor, and always will be,’ he said bitterly, running from the room.’
    • ‘They use to be dirt poor, but they're not anymore.’
    • ‘I have basically no career, I hate my job, I'm a homebody, I have a rut and am very independent, I'm dirt poor, my clothes are not the best, and I'm in good shape but not the best.’
    • ‘You must feel like the farmer who was dirt poor until he retired and sold the family farm.’
    • ‘Lana's family wasn't dirt poor, but they never could have afforded to take Lana, her brother, AND me on a two-week European dream vacation.’
    • ‘Al Green has taken what has become an all too familiar story of growing up dirt poor, without any financial or emotional support, and going on to become a superstar and made it salaciously entertaining.’
    • ‘We are quickly introduced to the main problem at the heart of her troubles: the family is dirt poor, with her husband working as a public transportation driver to support his four kids.’
    • ‘We were not rich, for sure, but we were not poor either - at least not dirt poor.’
    impoverished, poverty-stricken, poor, destitute, penniless, on one's beam-ends, as poor as a church mouse, without a sou, in penury, penurious, impecunious, indigent, needy, needful, in need, in want, unable to make ends meet, down and out, necessitous, beggarly, moneyless, bankrupt, in reduced circumstances
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dirt poor

/dərt pʊ(ə)r/