From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishimpoverishim‧pov‧e‧rish /ɪmˈpɒvərɪʃ $ ɪmˈpɑː-/ verb [transitive] 1 POORto make someone very poor Falling coffee prices have impoverished many Third World economies. families impoverished by debt2 WORSEto make something worse in quality Fast-growing trees remove nutrients and impoverish the soil. —impoverished adjective an impoverished student —impoverishment noun [uncountable] spiritual impoverishment
Examples from the Corpus
impoverish• If excellence is unrecognised, the culture is doubly impoverished.• My family was impoverished during most of my youth.• Should've been large enough for de Verne needs, although he said the wars had impoverished him.• These clients draw on the bank's supplies to stock soup kitchens, senior lunch rooms and meal programs for impoverished kids.• A labourer howls in the nothingness of the blank paper, which is also the empty, impoverished land.• The kids are mostly minorities; their bleak, impoverished lives stand in stark contrast to the mansions on their maps.• This helps explain why pentecostalism is attracting most of its membership among the impoverished majority rather than among the privileged few.• She learned it from impoverished people who had come to her in desperation.• Crop rotation has not impoverished the soil.• Many patients worry that paying for treatments will impoverish them.Origin impoverish (1400-1500) Old French empovrir, from povre “poor” 