penniless

penniless — adjective

1. with all your money gone, so you cannot cover basic living costs

1.adjectiveB2
Definition

with all your money gone, so you cannot cover basic living costs

Example

After the fire, the shop owner was penniless and sleeping on a cousin's sofa.

predicative: be penniless after losing everything

By twenty-five, Leo had gambled away his savings and ended up penniless.

pattern: end up penniless

Common collocations
  • be penniless
  • end up penniless
  • be left penniless
  • a penniless student
  • die penniless
Synonyms
  • poor

    broader and less exact; someone poor may still have some money

  • broke

    informal and often temporary, especially after spending too much

  • destitute

    more formal and stronger, suggesting extreme need

  • impoverished

    more formal and often used about groups, areas, or long-term conditions

Antonyms
  • wealthy

    having plenty of money

  • well-off

    less strong than 'wealthy'; comfortably provided with money

Grammar Patterns

be penniless

a penniless student

end up penniless

be left penniless

Usage Note

Often used after verbs that show a result, such as 'leave', 'end up', or 'find yourself'. Before a noun, it most often describes a person in a hard situation rather than an object or place.

Common Mistakes

He is penniless but owns three houses.
He is poor, but he owns three houses.
'penniless' means no money is available at all, so it clashes with clear signs of wealth.
She became penniless money after the scam.
She became penniless after the scam.
no noun comes directly after 'penniless'.

Word family

  • penny
    nounA2
  • pennilessness
    nounC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

All four words connect to a lack of money, but they do not point to the same situation. 'Penniless' means having no money available at all, often after losing it. 'Poor' is broader and may describe someone with very little money over a long time. 'Broke' is informal and often temporary, as after a trip or a shopping spree. 'Destitute' is stronger and more formal, suggesting that even basic needs are not being met. 'Impoverished' is also formal and is often used for communities, regions, or long-term social conditions rather than one person's empty wallet. You might say, 'I'm broke until Friday,' but 'The fire left the family penniless.'

poor ↗broke ↗destituteimpoverished

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • be left penniless
  • end up penniless
  • die penniless

Etymology

Old EnglishEnglish

This adjective is built from 'penny', a small coin, and the ending '-less', meaning 'without'. The original idea is simple: someone penniless does not have even a single penny left.