Word of the Day Archive
Sunday August 29, 1999
impecunious \im-pih-KYOO-nee-uhs\
, adjective:
Not having money; habitually without money; poor.
Her father, Bronson, was a respected but impecunious New England transcendentalist who had 'no gift for money making', according to [Louisa May] Alcott's journal.'
-- "Blood and Thunder in Concord", New York Times, September 10, 1995
He had gotten to know Garibaldi during the impecunious soldier's last years and would send him woolen socks, underwear, and money.
-- Tag Gallagher, The Adventures of Roberto Rossellini
It may be urged that an impecunious defendant would be unable to bear the expense of an appeal and would have to let it go by default.
-- Charles C. Nott Jr., "Coddling the Criminal", The Atlantic, February 1911
Impecunious is derived from Latin im-, in-, "not" + pecuniosus, "rich," from pecunia, "property in cattle, hence money," from pecu, "livestock."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for impecunious
