penury Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a state of extreme poverty or destitution
    need; pauperization; pauperism; indigence.
    • their indigence appalled him
    • a general state of need exists among the homeless

WordNet

Pen"u*ry noun
Etymology
L. penuria; cf. Gr. hunger, poverty, need, one who works for his daily bread, a poor man, to work for one's daily bread, to be poor: cf. F. pénurie.
Definitions
  1. Absence of resources; want; privation; indigence; extreme poverty; destitution. "A penury of military forces." Bacon.
    They were exposed to hardship and penury. Sprat.
    It arises in neither from penury of thought. Landor.
  2. Penuriousness; miserliness. Obs. Jer. Taylor.

Webster 1913