Meanings
present singular third person impoverishes · participle present impoverishing · participle past impoverished · past impoverished
- transitiveTo weaken in quality; to deprive of some strength or richness.
That exuberant crop quickly impoverishes any fertile soil.
1 more example
To many of us, organized religion is obnoxious. Yet if we throw out the sense of peace, order and joy that flows from religious ritual, we impoverish ourselves.
1979 December 22, Nancy Walker, “The Reaffirmation of Life”, in Gay Community News, volume 2, number 22, page 16Synonyms: deplete
- intransitiveTo become poor.
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo weaken in quality; to deprive of some strength or richness.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinpauper“poor”
- Old Frenchempoverir
- Anglo-Normanempoveriss-
- Middle Englishempoverishen
- Englishimpoverish
From Middle English empoverishen, impoverishen, empoverischen, enpoverisshen, Anglo-Norman empoveriss-, from Old French empoverir, from em- + povre, from Latin pauper (“poor”) (English poor).
More words from Middle English, Anglo-Norman, Old French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic أَفْقَر
- أَفْقَر (ʔafqar)to make poor
Bulgarian разорявам, разоря
- разорявам (razorjavam)to make poor
- разоря (razorja)to make poor
- обеднявам (obednjavam)to make poor
- обедня (obednja)to make poor
- обеднявам (obednjavam)to become poor
- обеднея (obedneja)to become poor
Catalan empobrir
- empobrirto make poor
Dutch verarmen, verzwakken
- verarmento make poor
- verzwakkento deprive of some strength or richness
- verarmento deprive of some strength or richness
- verarmento become poor
Finnish köyhdyttää, köyhdyttää
- köyhdyttääto make poor
- köyhdyttääto deprive of some strength or richness
- köyhtyäto become poor
French appauvrir, s'appauvrir
- appauvrirto make poor
- s'appauvrirto become poor
German arm machen, verarmen
- arm machento make poor
- verarmento make poor
- verarmento become poor
Greek φτωχαίνω
- φτωχαίνω (ftochaíno)to become poor
Hungarian elszegényedik
- elszegényedikto become poor
Italian impoverire, immiserire
- impoverireto make poor
- immiserireto make poor
- impoverirsito become poor
- immiserirsito become poor
Japanese 貧しくする
- 貧しくする (mazushiku suru)to make poor
Korean 가난하게 하다, 약화시키다
- 가난하게 하다 (gananhage hada)to make poor
- 약화시키다 (yakhwasikida)to deprive of some strength or richness
- 가난해지다 (gananhaejida)to become poor
Latin pauperō
- pauperōto make poor
Latvian nabadzināt, nabadzināt
- nabadzinātto make poor
- nabadzinātto deprive of some strength or richness
Māori whakapōhara
- whakapōharato make poor
Norwegian utarme
- utarmeto make poor
Polish zubażać, zubożyć
- zubażaćto make poor
- zubożyćto make poor
- zubażaćto deprive of some strength or richness
- zubożyćto deprive of some strength or richness
- biedniećto become poor
- zbiedniećto become poor
Portuguese empobrecer, empobrecer
- empobrecerto make poor
- empobrecerto become poor
Romanian sărăci, pauperiza
- sărăcito make poor
- pauperizato make poor
Russian обеднять, беднеть
- обеднять (obednjatʹ)to make poor
- беднеть (bednetʹ)to become poor
- нищать (niščatʹ)to become poor
Spanish empobrecer, depauperar
- empobrecerto make poor
- depauperarto make poor
Turkish yoksullaştırmak, fakirleştirmek
- yoksullaştırmakto make poor
- fakirleştirmekto make poor
- verimsizleştirmekto make poor
- güçsüzleştirmekto make poor
- yoksullaşmakto become poor
Ukrainian збі́днювати, збідни́ти
- збі́днювати (zbídnjuvaty)to make poor
- збідни́ти (zbidnýty)to make poor
- збі́днювати (zbídnjuvaty)to deprive of some strength or richness
- збідни́ти (zbidnýty)to deprive of some strength or richness
Cite this entry
impoverish. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/impoverish
“impoverish.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/impoverish. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “impoverish,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/impoverish.
Source: impoverish on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.