idiom · informal
be dirt poor
UK/biː dɜːt pɔː/US/bi dɜrt pʊr/be·DIRT·poor
speakingtask2
to be extremely poor; lacking money and basic resources
Examples
“After the factory closed, many families were dirt poor and needed help.”
“He grew up dirt poor but worked hard to go to university.”
“The village remains dirt poor despite some development projects.”
Band 8 sentence
“Entire regions of the country remain dirt poor despite decades of aid, which highlights the failure of previous policies.”
Collocations
- be dirt poor
- dirt-poor families
Word family
dirt-poor adjdirt poor adj phrase
Common mistakes
They are dirt-poored.→They are dirt poor.
He is very dirt poor.→He is dirt poor.
Say it for a higher band
5be poor→6have no money→7+be dirt poor
Synonyms
penniless
Easily confused
penniless
“After unpaid bills, he was left penniless.”
Related words
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In Hardship
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