From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishabject poverty/misery/failure etcabject poverty/misery/failure etcVERYthe state of being extremely poor, unhappy, unsuccessful etc → abject
Examples from the Corpus
abject poverty/misery/failure etc• But for some, who didn't get the grades they hoped for, there's abject misery.• For the first three years he endured abject misery.• Wealth was much more frequent than abject poverty.• What these hopefuls achieved for their pleasure and pain was a violent lifestyle of abject poverty.• The parasite has been nurtured by abject poverty, intermittent political chaos and, some charge, international indifference.• A central reason cited for the cutback was the abject failure of highly touted sports movies.• Its strategy was an abject failure on its own terms, for the Gaullists romped home in the June elections.• The Sisters also try never to reject anyone in abject poverty, the hungry or starving. 