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Penniless is an English word with synonyms like impecunious or penurious. Below you'll find 10+ example sentences showing how it's used in practice.

Rare word

Penniless in a sentence

Penniless meaning

  1. Lacking even the smallest amount of money.
  2. Of a country's system of money, abstaining from the use of penny coins, despite having fully decimalized currency, by means of rounding of cash transactions (but not necessarily of cashless ones).

Synonyms of Penniless

hard up impecunious in straitened circumstances penurious pinched poor

Related words

Other words often associated with Penniless or its synonyms:

bony lean pitiful nasal skeletal pathetic skint stingy emaciated hapless unfortunate thin

Using Penniless

  • The main meaning on this page is: Lacking even the smallest amount of money. | Of a country's system of money, abstaining from the use of penny coins, despite having fully decimalized currency, by means of rounding of cash transactions (but not necessarily of cashless ones).
  • Useful related words include: hard up, impecunious, in straitened circumstances, penurious.
  • In the example corpus, penniless often appears in combinations such as: penniless and, was penniless, as penniless.

Context around Penniless

  • Average sentence length in these examples: 24.1 words
  • Position in the sentence: 3 start, 6 middle, 11 end
  • Sentence types: 20 statements, 0 questions, 0 exclamations

Often before:

home 2× perpetually 1× unemployed 1× left 1× days 1× near 1× abroad 1× now 1×

Often after:

theatrical 1× birdless 1× undesirable 1× chef 1× artist 1× government 1× wife 1× guatemalans 1×

Sentence patterns with Penniless

These short patterns come directly from the example sentences and show how the word is often embedded:

104 days penniless and without 1× a near penniless government in 1× a perpetually penniless theatrical producer 1× as a penniless chef who 1× be unemployed penniless birdless and 1× beaumont was penniless when she 1× destruction by penniless guatemalans 1× died abroad penniless 1×

Sentence openings and endings

Common sentence openings:

a grenadian national 1× a perpetually penniless 1× according to goncharenko 1× after a few 1× but in mogadishu 1× cross originally from 1×

Common sentence endings:

and without documents 1× before his death 1× before opening night 1× by penniless guatemalans 1× called the ferrari 1× died abroad penniless 1×

Words around Penniless

Just before it in the word index:

pennies 131 pennie 5 penni 7 penneys 3 penney 67 penner 34

Just after it in the word index:

penniman 12 pennine 23 pennines 27 penning 113 pennings 5 pennington 131

Similar in corpus frequency:

abating 60 abductors 60 abstaining 60 accumulator 60 adeniyi 60 adhesives 60

Corpus analysis for Penniless

  • In this selection, "penniless" usually appears near the end of the sentence. The average example has 24.1 words, and this corpus slice is mostly made up of statements.
  • Around the word, home, perpetually, unemployed, theatrical, birdless and undesirable stand out and add context to how "penniless" is used.
  • Recognizable usage signals include 104 days penniless and without and a near penniless government in. That gives this page its own corpus information beyond isolated example sentences.
  • By corpus frequency, "penniless" sits close to words such as abating, abductors and abstaining, which helps place it inside the broader word index.

Example types with penniless

The same corpus examples are grouped by length and sentence type, making it easier to see the contexts in which the word appears:

Short example sentences

The greatest wheat speculator, Arthur Cooger, died abroad, penniless. (9 words)

He was finally released after 104 days, penniless and without documents. (11 words)

Of course, the mega-rich stayed mega-rich – but everyone else was penniless. (13 words)

Longer example sentences

According to Goncharenko, the problem is severe not only because it is “destroying the military morale” on the frontlines, but because soldiers who lose their earnings will become “perfect targets” for the criminal world once they return home penniless. (39 words)

He even bought his former master’s house in Beaufort, partly funded by the reward for delivering the Confederate ship to Union forces, and let the man’s widow live there after she was left penniless. (36 words)

Professional matchmaker Louanne Ward has exposed her former lover Mitchell* as a penniless chef who was cheating on his long-term girlfriend with two other women and driving a red Hyundai, which he called 'the Ferrari'. (36 words)

Example sentences (20)

After a few months, the duped crook was as good as penniless and fled back to the mainland due to heavy debts.

A perpetually penniless theatrical producer and his pals are rehearsing a play they think will be a huge hit but their mounting hotel bills threaten to overwhelm the enterprise before opening night.

At this time, Ronald's third marriage had just broken up, while the younger Brand was said to be "unemployed, penniless, birdless and desperate for his approval".

Mary Beaumont was penniless when she married the wealthy farmer and bore him four children before his death.

Scapin is known as a schemer and teller of tales and is enlisted to help in the affairs of Octave and Leander as both men have fallen in love with penniless, undesirable mates.

According to Goncharenko, the problem is severe not only because it is “destroying the military morale” on the frontlines, but because soldiers who lose their earnings will become “perfect targets” for the criminal world once they return home penniless.

He even bought his former master’s house in Beaufort, partly funded by the reward for delivering the Confederate ship to Union forces, and let the man’s widow live there after she was left penniless.

He was finally released after 104 days, penniless and without documents.

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He wondered why people like him are expected to be penniless while those who have done next to nothing parade themselves as achievers.

Of course, the mega-rich stayed mega-rich – but everyone else was penniless.

Professional matchmaker Louanne Ward has exposed her former lover Mitchell* as a penniless chef who was cheating on his long-term girlfriend with two other women and driving a red Hyundai, which he called 'the Ferrari'.

Titanic follows first-class passenger Rose who finds a love to last a lifetime when she falls for penniless artist Jack just as disaster strikes on a doomed luxury liner.

But in Mogadishu, banking for a near-penniless government in a broken state didn’t mean much.

The greatest wheat speculator, Arthur Cooger, died abroad, penniless.

They gave Ms Omirzakh, the penniless wife of a detained vegetable trader, three days to pay a $2,685 (£2,171) fine for having more than two children.

This worked out well for the church but left the now penniless in a lurch.

According to him, the safety and wellbeing of the world’s richest, most powerful country is threatened with utter destruction by penniless Guatemalans.

A Grenadian National Footballer believes that he was victimised while playing for an international team in Lebanon and has returned home penniless.

Cross, originally from Blackburn, signed up in Liverpool at the end of the 1960s where “I’d ended up penniless”, he said.

Short on funds, Jamie went to the bank, only to discover that her husband had depleted the entire balance of their joint account, leaving her penniless.

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Common combinations with penniless

These word pairs occur most frequently in English texts:

Frequently asked questions

How do you use "penniless" in a sentence?
An example: "After a few months, the duped crook was as good as penniless and fled back to the mainland due to heavy debts." This page contains 10+ example sentences with the word "penniless" from authentic English texts.
What does "penniless" mean?
Penniless means: Lacking even the smallest amount of money.
What are synonyms of "penniless"?
Common synonyms of "penniless" include: hard up, impecunious, in straitened circumstances, penurious, pinched, poor.
How many example sentences with "penniless" are there?
Voorbeeldzinnen.info contains at least 10+ example sentences with "penniless", drawn from a database of millions of English sentences.