1 Sussidi didattici non commerciabili_Siani_Univ Tor Vergata_Dip Studi Umanistici_2014 SYNONYMS A DEFINITION OF ‘SYNONYM’ /ˈsɪnənɪm/: A word that has the same or nearly the same meaning as another word in the same language. Find out four synonyms of poor in this joke by Jules Feiffer, that you already know: I used to think I was poor. Then they told me I wasn’t poor, I was needy.Then they told me it was self-defeating to think of myself as needy. I was deprived. (Oh, not deprived but rather underprivileged.) Then they told me that underprivileged was overused. I was disadvantaged. I still don’t have a dime. But I have a great vocabulary. Synonyms in the passage: • POOR • NEEDY • DEPRIVED • UNDERPRIVILEGED • DISADVANTAGED Here is how the synonyms of ‘poor’ are explained in the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary s.v. poor, “synonyms” poor - disadvantaged - needy - impoverished - deprived - penniless - hard up - underprivileged These words all describe sb who has very little or no money and therefore cannot satisfy their basic needs. • poor having very little money; not having enough money for basic needs: They were too poor to buy shoes for the kids • disadvantaged /ˌdɪsədˈvɑːntɪdʒd/ not having the things, such as education, or enough money, that people need in order to succeed in life: socially disadvantaged sections of the community. • needy poor: It's a charity that provides help for needy children. • impoverished /ɪmˈpɒvərɪʃt/ [journalism] poor: Thousands of impoverished peasants are desperate to move to the cities [= desperately wanto to …]. • deprived /dɪˈpraɪvd/ [usually before noun] without enough food, education, and all the things that are necessary for people to live a happy and comfortable life: a deprived childhood / background / area - economically / emotionally / socially deprived • penniless (literary) having no money; very poor: He died penniless in Paris.
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1 Sussidi didattici non commerciabili_Siani_Univ Tor Vergata_Dip Studi Umanistici_2014
SYNONYMS
A DEFINITION OF ‘SYNONYM’ /ˈsɪnənɪm/: A word that has the same or nearly the same meaning as another word in the same language.
Find out four synonyms of poor in this joke by Jules Feiffer, that you already know:
I used to think I was poor. Then they told
me I wasn’t poor, I was needy.Then they
told me it was self-defeating to think of
myself as needy. I was deprived. (Oh, not
deprived but rather underprivileged.) Then
they told me that underprivileged was
overused. I was disadvantaged. I still don’t
have a dime. But I have a great vocabulary.
Synonyms in the passage:
• POOR
• NEEDY
• DEPRIVED
• UNDERPRIVILEGED
• DISADVANTAGED
Here is how the synonyms of ‘poor’ are explained in the
Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary
s.v. poor, “synonyms”
poor - disadvantaged - needy - impoverished -
deprived - penniless - hard up - underprivileged
These words all describe sb who has very little or no money and therefore cannot satisfy their basic
needs.
• poor having very little money; not having enough money for basic needs: They were too poor
to buy shoes for the kids
• disadvantaged /ˌdɪsədˈvɑːntɪdʒd/ not having the things, such as education, or enough money, that people need in order to succeed in life: socially disadvantaged sections of the
community.
• needy poor: It's a charity that provides help for needy children.
• impoverished /ɪmˈpɒvərɪʃt/ [journalism] poor: Thousands of impoverished peasants are
desperate to move to the cities [= desperately wanto to …].
• deprived /dɪˈpraɪvd/ [usually before noun] without enough food, education, and all the things
that are necessary for people to live a happy and comfortable life: a deprived childhood / background / area - economically / emotionally / socially deprived
• penniless (literary) having no money; very poor: He died penniless in Paris.
2 Sussidi didattici non commerciabili_Siani_Univ Tor Vergata_Dip Studi Umanistici_2014
• hard up (informal) having very little money, especially for a short period of time: I was always
hard up as a student.
• underprivileged having less money and fewer opportunities than most people in society:
underprivileged sections of the community. Syn. Disadvantaged
POOR, NEEDY, IMPOVERISHED OR DEPRIVED?
Poor is the most general of these words and can be used to describe yourself, another individual
person, people as a group, or a country or an area.
Needy is mostly used to describe people considered as a group: it is not used to talk about yourself
or individual people: poor/needy children/families - They were too needy to buy shoes for the kids.
Impoverished is used, especially in journalism, to talk about poor countries and the people who
live there.
To talk about poor areas in rich countries, use deprived.
The following is a dictionary of synonyms and antonyms in Italian. Look at the entry below,
and find out whether we have all the Italian synonyms for ‘povero’ listed above.
3 Sussidi didattici non commerciabili_Siani_Univ Tor Vergata_Dip Studi Umanistici_2014
Translation of the terms in the passage by Feiffer:
• POOR povero
• NEEDY bisognoso
• DEPRIVED deprivato ?
• UNDERPRIVILEGED diseredato ?
• DISADVANTAGED svantaggiato socialmente
DEPRIVATO and SVANTAGGIATO are not included in Gabrielli’s dictionary.
Can deprived be “deprivato,” and underprivileged “diseredato”?
A way to find equivalents, when translating from one language into another, is comparing
definitions.
DEPRIVED: without enough food, education, and all the things that are necessary for people to live
a happy and comfortable life. (Oxford Advance Learner’s Dictionary)
DEPRIVATO: escluso dal godimento di beni di realtà sociali e culturali di più alto livello.
(Vocabolario della lingua italiana di Nicola Zingarelli, Zanichelli)
UNDERPRIVILEGED: having less money and fewer opportunities than most people in society;