impoverish

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English 5++朗文当代英语 5++LDOCE 5++朗文 5++im·pov·e·rish /ɪmˈpɒvərɪʃ $ ɪmˈpɑː-/ verb [transitive] 1 POORto make someone very poor 使贫困，使赤贫 Falling coffee prices have impoverished many Third World economies. 咖啡价格下跌使很多发展中的经济面临困境。 families impoverished by debt 因负债而贫穷的家庭2 WORSEto make something worse in quality 使贫瘠[枯竭] Fast-growing trees remove nutrients and impoverish the soil. 速生树木吸收了土壤中的营养，使土地变得贫瘠。 —impoverished adjective an impoverished student 贫困的学生 —impoverishment noun [uncountable] spiritual impoverishment 精神贫乏

Examples from the Corpus

impoverish• If excellence is unrecognised, the culture is doubly impoverished.• My family was impoverished during most of my youth.• Should've been large enough for de Verne needs, although he said the wars had impoverished him.• These clients draw on the bank's supplies to stock soup kitchens, senior lunch rooms and meal programs for impoverished kids.• A labourer howls in the nothingness of the blank paper, which is also the empty, impoverished land.• The kids are mostly minorities; their bleak, impoverished lives stand in stark contrast to the mansions on their maps.• This helps explain why pentecostalism is attracting most of its membership among the impoverished majority rather than among the privileged few.• She learned it from impoverished people who had come to her in desperation.• Crop rotation has not impoverished the soil.• Many patients worry that paying for treatments will impoverish them.Origin impoverish (1400-1500) Old French empovrir, from povre “poor”