14 April 2016
penury
[pen-yuh-ree]
noun
1. extreme poverty; destitution.
2. scarcity; dearth; inadequacy; insufficiency.
Origin of penury
late Middle English Latin
1400-1450; late Middle English < Latin pēnūria; akin to Greek peîna hunger, penía poverty
Synonyms
1. indigence, need, want.
Antonyms
1. wealth.
Dictionary.com
Examples from the Web for penury
Contemporary Examples
The Rev Dr John Jegasothy, a former Tamil refugee and now an Australian citizen, says life on a bridging visa is enforced penury and a poverty made worse because of its interminable nature.
‘We are the forgotten people’: the anguish of Australia’s ‘invisible’ asylum seekers
The Guardian, 13 April 2016
Ben Doherty & Abdul Karim Hekmat
Larry, it looks like traveling up the royal road you slashed through the forest of penury.
Norman Mailer vs. Everyone
Norman Mailer
February 26, 2009
Or perhaps the plague of Strawberry Quick-flavored meth that was luring children into a life of addiction and penury.
Parents Panic Over Old Fake Smarties Snorting Craze
Lizzie Crocker
January 22, 2014
Relative obscurity and penury, her anthem claims, rule just as hard as the point-oh-oh-one percent realm of excess and access.
Duck! Reality TV Returns Us to the Dark Age of Tribal Warfare
James Poulos
December 20, 2013
Historical Examples
Here he experienced all the rigour of penury and imprisonment for seven years.
A Tour throughout South Wales and Monmouthshire
J. T. Barber
The life that passes in penury must necessarily pass in obscurity.
The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. in Nine Volumes
Samuel Johnson
For Care and penury, Night changes not with the ticking of the clock, nor with the shadow on the dial.
Night and Morning, Complete
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
The Admiral had in one hour been reduced from opulence to penury.
The History of England from the Accession of James II.
Thomas Babington Macaulay
In the next act there is a scene for Fides in the streets of Mnster, in which, reduced to penury, she begs for alms.
The Complete Opera Book
Gustav Kobb
For the badge of penury is desire, the badge of wealth contempt.
The Apologia and Florida of Apuleius of Madaura
Lucius Apuleius
Notwithstanding her popularity and patronage, she died in France in great obscurity and penury.
The Every Day Book of History and Chronology
Joel Munsell
Anagram
prey nu
Today’s quote
No amount of security is worth the suffering of a mediocre life chained to a routine that has killed your dreams.
– Maya Mendoza
On this day
14 April 1865 – President Abraham Lincoln is shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theater, Washington DC. Lincoln died the following day.
14 April 1912 – the RMS Titanic strikes an ice-berg just before midnight in the north Atlantic ocean as it sailed on its maiden voyage from Southampton UK to New York City USA , resulting in the deaths of 1,502 of the 3,372 people onboard.
14 April 1988 – Soviet Union begins withdrawing troops from Afghanistan after nine years of occupation.