beggar
beggars; beggared; beggaring
A beggar is a poor person who asks others, or begs, for money or food. Another word for a beggar is a "panhandler," although both terms are vaguely offensive. No one wants to be a beggar.
Many people who are beggars are also homeless and haven't been able to find jobs. Sometimes people use the word in an informal, pitying way: "Poor little beggar, he works so hard!" Another informal term is "to beggar belief," as when something is so incredible that you find it hard to believe. Another expression is “beggars can’t be choosers” which means you get what you get and you don’t get upset.
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a pauper who lives by begging
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synonyms:
mendicant
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examples:
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Lazarus
the diseased beggar in Jesus' parable of the rich man and the beggar
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types:
- show 6 types...
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beggarman
a man who is a beggar
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beggarwoman
a woman who is a beggar
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cadger, mooch, moocher, scrounger
someone who mooches or cadges (tries to get something free)
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panhandler
a beggar who approaches strangers asking for money
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sannyasi, sannyasin, sanyasi
a Hindu religious mendicant
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schnorrer, shnorrer
(Yiddish) a scrounger who takes advantage of the generosity of others
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type of:
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pauper
a person who is very poor
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Lazarus
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reduce to beggary
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type of:
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impoverish
make poor
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impoverish
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be beyond the resources of
Vocabulary lists containing beggar
Enrich your vocabulary with this list of words that describe the condition of having little or no money. For more synonym lists, explore our Say What You Mean resources.
In this collection of essays translated by Rosalind Harvey, Juan Pablo Villalobos records the true stories of Latin American teens attempting to immigrate to the United States.
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