indigence n : a state of extreme poverty or destitution; "their indigence appalled him"; "a general state of need exists among the homeless" [syn: need, penury, beggary, pauperism, pauperization]

English

Noun

indigence

1. extreme poverty or destitution

Impotent poor was a classificiation of poverty used in Britain during the 1600s. It referred to those poor who were unable to support themselves either through age or sickness - not because they did not want to work. This group was considered deserving of poor relief.

References

bare cupboard, bare subsistence, beggarliness, beggary, deprivation, destitution, empty purse, grinding poverty, gripe, hand-to-mouth existence, homelessness, impecuniousness, impoverishment, lack, mendicancy, moneylessness, necessitousness, necessity, need, neediness, pauperism, pauperization, penury, pinch, privation, want